When Apple sold “only†5 million iPhone 5s in the first weekend, many suspected the reason the number wasn’t higher was simply a supply shortfall â€" which jibes with the reports about wait times for online orders being extended by weeks .
The chief suspect in why Apple didn’t have enough iPhone 5s ready was its display , which uses new technology to make it thinner than ever. The in-cell touch-panel tech is harder to produce, leading some analysts to believe Apple’s display suppliers â€" Sharp, LG and Japan Display â€" couldn’t keep up with demand.
Now it appears at least one of those suppliers is throwing some cold water on that theory. A Sharp executive told reporters on condition of anonymity that the company was producing “adequate volumes†of the iPhone 5′s display, Reuters reports [1] . Although Apple’s suppliers typically do not publicly acknowledge their relationship with Apple, teardowns of the device often reveal who they are.
When deliveries on pre-orders of the iPhone 5 began to get pushed back several weeks, analysts such as Peter Misek [2] of the investment bank Jeffries suggested Apple’s new in-cell technology â€" which merges the LCD pixels and touch electrodes into one layer â€" was too difficult to reliably produce in high quantities.
Even if that’s not the case at Sharp, LG and Japan Display may not be as prepared, and another analyst, Yasuo Nakane of Deutsche Securities, says the other two likely produced the screens for the first round of iPhone 5s that Apple sold.
Have you ordered an iPhone 5? How long is your wait time? Let us know in the comments.
BONUS: A Tour of the iPhone 5
Bigger Screen
The most noticeable change in the new iPhone is its larger, 4-inch screen. The display actually isn't any wider than the previous one, but instead extends length-wise to a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Its resolution is 1,136 x 640 pixels -- that's not quite high-def, but it still has the same pixel density -- what Apple calls a retina display. The taller screen allows for five rows of apps (plus the permanent row on the bottom), and Apple says its colors are better, too.
LTE
The iPhone 5 is the first iPhone with LTE connectivity, and it's going to work on the networks of AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, as well as many others across the globe. To accommodate so many different LTE bands, Apple had to split the iPhone 5 into three different models, only one of which works on CDMA networks. That's a departure from the "world phone" approach of the iPhone 4S, but at least Apple was able to integrate both the LTE and voice radios into the same chip, saving space in the device.
Lightning Connector
The 30-pin dock connector, which has been on Apple portable devices since 2003, is now obsolete, replaced with the much smaller Lightning connector , the name being a play on the Thunderbolt connector on Apple's Macs. Apple says it's 80% smaller than the old dock connector, and had the extra advantage of being reversible (no more "getting it wrong" the first time you try to insert it). Of course, the new jack means many old accessories won't work with the iPhone 5 -- unless you buy Apple's $29 adapter, that is. Even if you do, the adapters don't support exporting video, so you're stuck with AirPlay for that.
Thinner Design
All this beautiful new technology means Apple was able to shave off a couple of millimeters of thickness. Thanks in part to the new connector, the combined-radio chip and integrating touch electrodes right into the pixels, the iPhone 5 is just 0.3 of an inch thick. It's also lighter, weighing just under 4 ounces.
A6 Chip
The iPhone 5 sports a new processor, the ARM-based Apple A6. Apple claims that it's twice as fast as the A5 chip in the iPhone 4S, and has twice the graphics performance. Like its predecessors, it's optimized for iOS to save power. The phone is rated to last up to eight hours of talk time and 10 hours of video playback.
EarPods
Yes, those horrible white earphones that you get with every iPhone are finally getting an upgrade. The new earbuds are called EarPods , and they have a ported design for deeper bass. Apple says it approached the EarPods' design by crafting them to fit many different kinds of ears first, then built speaker drivers to fit them.
Improved Camera
The iPhone 5 has more camera abilities, too. The rear iSight camera is still 8 megapixels, but now there's a built-in panorama mode that can combine many photos into a single 28MP image -- an ability coming to the iPhone 4S in iOS 6. The camera's also said to be 40% faster with better low-light performance and improved image stabilization for video. Finally, the front-facing camera is now an HD FaceTime camera.
Enhanced Siri
Siri 's learned a trick or two with iOS 6, and is now able to launch apps and understand things like sports scores. Siri can even post tweets and and Facebook updates for you. She's also conquering new territory by coming to the new iPod touch .
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