White iPhone 4 Supplies to be Extremely Constrained

News coming out of a website based in China details the production process for White iPhone 4 screens, and the news is not promising.

Apparently Lens Technology, the company that makes the White iPhone 4’s front panel, has machines which are only capable of producing 3 units per hour. Getting the balance of white paint levels to opacity for the panel is something that is quite tricky to get right when producing components to Apple’s high standards.

The report does not detail how many actual machines the company has for producing this component. But at 3 units per machine per hour, unless they have thousands of machines it is hard to see how Apple can expect to produce sufficient quantities of White iPhone 4s to keep up with the kind of sales figures their new iPhone is currently experiencing.

Current estimates suggest that Apple can only produce half the volume of units it needs to satisfy expected demand.

If you remember, Steve Jobs did say on Friday at the “Antennagate” press conference that the White iPhone 4 remains on track for availability at the end of July. But he did also warn that supplies would be limited, at least initially.

This echoes an earlier statement from Apple where they admitted that manufacturing the Black iPhone4’s sibling has proved more challenging than they expected.

Apparently Stephen Fry, the British comedian and all round Apple geek, was seen proudly waving a White iPhone 4 around last night at an entertainment event. So it seems if you have friends in the right places they are available right now…

Are you still holing out for a White iPhone 4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Advertisement

2 Comments on “White iPhone 4 Supplies to be Extremely Constrained”

  1. ct

    Definitely still waiting for the white..I spoke to an Apple rep and they said as soon as it is available, it will show on Apple.com..Not sure if it will be available to pre-order or buy right away.

Leave a Reply