It seems right now like Apple has a lot of prospective new products on the horizon. The 7.85-inch iPad mini. The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. Updated iMacs. Yet despite the fact that all of these products have been highly rumored to debut this month in time of a busy holiday season, we’ve yet to see any of them. Now one report is suggesting a reason why: Apple’s having production problems on both the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and iPad mini.
The claim comes from DigiTimes, an extremely hit-or-miss purveyor of rumors sketchily sourced from the Far East supply chain, who says that Foxconn and Pegatron can’t get suitable yelds for the display and chassis of the iPad mini.
The sources pointed out that although the iPad Mini’s chassis adopts a similar material as the 9.7-inch model, the iPad Mini’s design and tactile feel will be different from those of the larger model.
In addition, DigiTimes claims that the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display is having similar production problems, having delayed the product’s launch a month already, with more delays possible.
DigiTimes has previously reported on the rumor of low iPad mini yield rates, but this is the first time they have claimed that the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is having similar issues.
In a way, it makes sense. Apple’s products have become increasingly complex to design, with the iPhone 5 being so difficult to build that Apple has actually had to knock off production rates to keep quality assurance high. As these devices become designed to ever-increasing degrees of sophistication and precision, it’s going to take a lot longer to satisfy Apple’s standards, let alone the inevitable onslaught of consumer demand.
Source: DigiTimes
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