Recent production problems with the 2012 iMac have largely been solved, suggesting that supply constraints may ease, according to a report from China Times, summarized by BrightWire.
- [T]he company's Taiwanese component suppliers noted that the assembling conformity rate for the new iMac has been improved and mass production started in December 2012. Sales of the device may be boosted in 1Q 2013.
- As new products will usually see orders peak within the first four months after they are launched, the shipments of the new iMac are expected to remain stable through 1Q 2013.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook noted in last week's analyst call that iMac shipments would remain constrained through Q1, with the company giving this as a large part of the reason for selling 1.1 million fewer Macs in Q4 2012 compared to Q4 2011.
Currently 27-inch iMacs are showing delivery times of 3-4 weeks, with 21.5-inch models showing 2-3 weeks.
Top Rated Comments
It was clear that the new iMac wasn't ready in November. Launching a major product line with only a few hundred thousand units in stock during the holiday quarter? That caused a 700,000 iMacs backlog which Apple has to fill.
Looking back, it would have been better if Apple simply specs-bump their iMacs to Ivy Bridge some time in the summer, which was dead-easy to do. Then announce the new design when Haswell is ready. They have ample time to iron out the production issues and still have computers to sell.
What is Tim Cook thinking lately? The Maps fiasco (which you can reasonably blame Scott Forstall when he told Cook "it's ready"), and now the iMac conundrum.
Yup.
Or when the Cube came out of the box with hair line cracks? Or how about when the G5 iMac capacitors exploded? This kind of stuff happens all the time but the difference then was that no one was paying attention to Apple. Now Apple sneezes and it's stock drops 15%.
Why should I give you more $ Apple, where's the quality!?!?!
:mad:
I completely agree with this. I think it's way too early to judge Tim Cook overall, but this was a major and avoidable screw up. The previous body could have been upgraded to Ivy Bridge and new GPU last summer, so they would have had ample stock for back-to-school and the holidays. As it was, they were selling old tech for back-to-school and next to nothing for the holidays. I expect more from a supply chain guru. And now how long will the upgrade cycle be for Haswell, which drops this summer?
And if you did have problems with Apple Maps, it's still a good thing it got launched, since now Google has made it's own Maps 'without restrictions' they had when it was a native app. It's truly a win for the consumers.