Whenever Apple announces a new mobile device we tend to hear rumors from the supply chain that the company is facing manufacturing issues with the product. This time around its the Apple Watch’s turn and already there have been multiple reports about such issues. The latest coming out of China suggests that extreme issues have reduced Apple Watch yields to perilously low numbers as Apple faces problems with manufacturing the OLED displays and its partner Quanta faces various issues on the production lines.
A report by UDN from China claims that only 30 to 40 percent of the OLED panels that LG is providing for the Apple Watch are usable. This has apparently forced Apple to reduce the initial batch from 3 million units to just 1.5 million units. This production volume is expected to carry on for the next few months.
As far as Quanta is concerned, which is believed to be the main manufacturing partner for this product, rumor has it that Quanta is facing problems adapting its processes for the production of the Apple Watch. That’s also reducing yields.
Apple is going to start taking pre-orders for the Apple Watch on April 10th. The wearable devices will be released on April 24th. Apple has a few weeks now to get things up and running, that’s if there are any problems to begin with, whispers from the supply chain can often be of no weight at all.
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