iPhone 5 production reportedly slowed due to aluminum unibody chassis quality issues

If you wanted to get your hands on Apple’s new iPhone 5, you will notice that according to Apple’s website, you might have to wait 3-4 weeks before you get your hands on the device. So what’s taking so long? Well one could argue that the demand was greater than Apple had anticipated, although a report from Bloomberg has suggested otherwise.

According to the report, the reason why you might have to wait so long for the iPhone 5 is because of Apple’s choice to go with an aluminum casing, rather than the stainless steel and Gorilla glass backing that it used with the iPhone 4S. The decision to go with aluminum has resulted in a much lighter iPhone, and supposedly will resist cracking a lot better too. However aluminum is a lot softer too and supposedly this led to production quality issues during the manufacturing process. Apple is reportedly pressuring their manufacturers to up their quality due to that.

As you might recall, there were several reports of the iPhone 5 being shipped to customers with scuffs and scratches already on them. Apple’s SVP of Global Marketing, Phil Schiller, reportedly said that aluminum products chip and scratch with use, although we doubt that can hardly be applied to a brand new product right out of the box. Granted the 3-4 week wait might seem rather long, but would you rather wait a month than get a product that chips or scratches easily right out of the box?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: iPhone 5