iMac, iPad mini shipments may be limited until Q1 2013
updated 09:59 am EST, Wed November 28, 2012
Production problems said to be hampering display supplies
Shipments of the iMac and iPad mini may be limited until sometime in the first quarter of 2013, claim industry sources for Digitimes. Display panels for the iPad mini are reportedly produced by AU Optronics and LG Display, and AU is said to be getting a yield rate of just 22 percent, compared with the 40 percent it was originally aiming for. Complicating matters further is a supply shortage on the part of backlight module makers. The sources assert that Apple wanted to ship 10 million iPad minis during Q4 2012, but might only be able to hit 6 million.
The new iMac is said to use panels made exclusively by LG. Because a new process had to be developed to mass produce the panels, however, LG is allegedly still limited in its capacity. The sources charge that both iPad mini and iMac suppliers should have better yields in the next quarter.
Display supplies have been a recurring issue for Apple since at least the introduction of the iPhone 4, the first device with a Retina display. Since then, products like the third-generation iPad and iPhone 5 have also had problems, as Apple tries to maximize the thinness and screen area of its designs.
