While we saw the white Apple iPhone 4 during WWDC, it has been rather elusive ever since. It certainly wasn’t available anywhere during the June 24 launch, and it’s not expected to be available during any of the global launches this Friday, either. Apple and Steve Jobs said during its Antennagate press conference that it would become available late July, but that promise was broken once more just a week later. What is going on and why is it taking so long for the white iPhone 4 to be released?
Manufacturing problems. Rumors and speculation have pretty much told us that Apple was having issues with manufacturing the perfect white iPhone 4. Whether it was transparency, thickness, some varying shades of white or other magical form of manufacturing joo-joo, the high powers at Apple have yet to be satisfied with moving forward with a full production run on the white version of the new-fangled iPhone 4. However, a source claims that the manufacturing woes might be over.
According to MacNN, the whiteness of the iPhone 4 wasn’t perfect and the paint being used was also flaking. The binding agent is also apparently affecting the tint in a way that Apple isn’t too happy about. Nonetheless, it looks like the company has fixed more of the major or critical issues and may be getting closer to getting these pale iPhone 4s out into public space.
One other potential issue was that the paint and transparency was causing issues for the proximity sensor and the way light would pass through the casing. Apparently, with some of the paint and thickness combinations, the sensors were being affected negatively and there were also light leak issues with the phone.
Who would have thought that producing a phone in a particular color would cause so many problems? Then again, Apple is certainly pushing the edge with the materials it uses for manufacturing and the methods it uses for building new products. While the wait is growing increasingly frustrating, I’m inclined to give Apple a pass because of its choice of design, materials and manufacturing processes – all of which have resulted in some pretty solid products to date. Antennagate notwithstanding.
[Via: MacNN]