iPhone 5 shipments may be low due to touchpanels with “delayed bubble” defect

Fri, Sep 23, 2011

News, Rumors

Apple will by all accounts release, or at the very least announce, two new iPhone models this year – a low cost iPhone 4S device along with a larger screened iPhone 5 with a teardrop form factor.

Last week, 9to5Mac reported that the iPhone 5 may be released a little bit later than the iPhone 4S on account of production and design delays. Further, iPhone 5 supply will reportedly be strained going all the way through early 2012. In a worst case scenario, the device won’t even hit stores until 2012 to begin with.

Now comes some additional details via Digitimes which reports that iPhone 5 touch panels from Wintek experienced a defect known as “delayed bubble.”

The defect, “delayed bubble”, is difficult to avoid during panel production, particularly when the defect is not detected during the process of laminating touch panels, and only later found during assembly, the sources said. Since the manufacturing process of touch panels used in iPhone 5 is of the same as that for iPhone 4, Wintek is expected to remedy the defect quickly, the sources indicated.

With Wintek responsible for upwards of 25% of the touchscreen panels used on the iPhone 5, it remains unclear just how much of an impact the “delayed bubble” issue will have on Apple’s iPhone 5 supply.

Thankfully, we won’t have to wait that much longer to find out what Apple has in the pipeline as Tim Cook will reportedly introduce Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone/s at a special media event scheduled for October 4.

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