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Chengdu Plant Shut Down May Reduce iPad 2 Production By 500,000 Units
It seems that the explosion at the Chengdu Foxconn plant may in fact lead to a loss in production of 500,000 iPads, despite contrary reports from yesterday. The figures come from IHS iSuppli, which did note the exact figure will depend on how long the plant remains closed.
The Chengdu plant is said to produce 30% of all iPad 2s and some, including Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital Markets last week speculated that the impact could even be as large as a loss of production between 1.8 million and 2.8 million iPads. Whilst others such as Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee doesn’t believe the Chengdu shut down will have much of an impact at all on iPad 2 production, with other plants picking up the slack.
Leave a commentFoxconn to Suppliers: iPad 2 Production Will Not Be Delayed Due to Explosion
After Foxconn factory explosion, there obediently appeared rumors about how the incident may affect Apple's iPad 2 production. Some analysts have already suggested that the production impact should be minimal, but now China Times is reporting more definitively that the iPad would not be affected based on comments from Foxconn to suppliers.
Sources said the explosion at Foxconn Technology Groups Chengdu plant did not affect the assembly line of iPad. Foxconn assured major suppliers at an online meeting yesterday that under the principle of orders placed and goods delivered as usual, the production of iPad 2 would not be delayed and related iPhone devices and new iPad products would still be in mass production in the third quarter.
iPhone 5 To Get A Curved Cover Glass?
Samsung Nexus S
Today DigiTimes that Apple may adopt a "curved cover glass" for its iPhone 5.
The publication's industry sources revealed makers of cover glass will reluctantly invest into glass cutting equipment because of the high capital involved. They also told Apple has already purchased approximately 200-300 cutting machines for glass makers. However, the company hasn't yet created a timetable for iPhone 5, as it is still working with suppliers to improve yield rates.
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Apple “iTV” Prototype Shows Up on eBay
A prototype “iTV” of the device that eventually shipped as the first-generation Apple TV is now available on eBay for a “Buy Now” price of $350. The device, resembling the original Apple TV with only an Apple logo on top but lacking the “TV” branding, is still functional and also managed to receive Apple TV software updates throughout the years, in spite of its internal and not-for-release nature that would suggest the device is not capable of running the latest software. However, the iTV is apparently working correctly and showing the 3.0 software update from 2007. The iTV also has a couple of labels on its back, depicting the DVT (device verification test) status and the “Apple Development Team” that originally owned it and somehow gave it to someone else.
Apple Opening A New Data Center in Silicon Valley
Apple is planning to open a new data center in Silicon Valley in the third quarter of 2011 to provide “additional IT capacity” to Apple’s rumored new cloud services that include music, video, storage, and more. The new space is located in Santa Clara, California, and it’s smaller than the massive data center Apple has been building in Maiden, North Carolina, throughout 2010 and 2011.
Apple is expanding its Internet infrastructure with a new data center in Silicon Valley, as it prepares to bring additional server and storage capacity online later this year. The new server space, housed in a third-party facility, will be smaller than the huge iDataCenter that Apple has built in North Carolina.
Apple Temporarily Freezing In-App Purchase Approvals
A number of iOS developers have been unable for over a week now to get their in-app purchase content approved by Apple, as the company requires in the iTunes Connect developer portal to test IAP with a test user account, but this account has been offline with no explanation from Apple.
As a matter of policy, Apple requires developers to test in-app purchases (IAP) with a test user account before the application in question can be approved. Unfortunately, this test account has been offline for a week now with no word as to why. If you are a developer, you can see the relevant thread on Apple’s own developer forums here.
iPhone 4S To Go Into Production In August, Apple Reducing iPhone 4 Shipments
DigiTimes reports that the next generation iPhone, which they call the iPhone 4S, won’t have LTE capability and will go into production in August. LTE capability will likely make its way into the following (sixth generation) iPhone in 2012. A number of carriers, including three top Chinese telecommunication companies will be disappointed after expressing interest in selling an LTE capable iPhone.
With plans to begin production of the iPhone 4S in August, and nearly 2 million iPhone 4s in inventory according to sources, Apple has reportedly lowered its expected shipment volumes for the iPhone 4 (for Q2 2011) to 17.5-18 million units, a reduction of about 2 million units. Around 2 million are expected to be the CDMA version whilst around 16 million 3G models. Apple is however expecting shipments of iPad 2s to increase substantially from 7-8 million units to 10-10.5 million units in Q2, 2011.
iPhone 5 Parts Confirm New Camera Flash Position
Yesterday we posted some portion of information about a case design for the “iPhone 5G” that seemed to suggest the next-generation device would relocate the rear-facing camera flash to opposite side of the lens, 9to5mac points to leaked iPhone 5 parts posted by well-sourced website Apple.Pro which indeed show a rear camera lens with no Flash attached. The alleged parts, posted alongside old iPhone 4 camera components, show a redesigned internal front-facing lens, as well as a different rear-facing module lacking the flash part found on the iPhone 4. While it’s impossible to tell any improvements on the cameras from these photos alone, Apple.pro does seem to confirm today’s “crystal case” for the iPhone 5 with a relocated camera flash on the back panel.
“iPhone 5G” Case Suggests Thinner Bezel, New Camera Flash Placement
Alibaba.com started selling a new case for co-called “iPhone 5G” that suggests a new camera flash placement for the next generation iPhone, as well as a thinner bezel with an horizontal edge-to-edge display design. The case has a slot for the camera flash on the opposite side of the lens, which is rumored to receive an upgrade for the iPhone Apple will likely unveil in September. As far as theories about the larger display go, in April rumors claimed that Apple was working on a completely redesigned iPhone, a larger display, a new Home button, and worldphone capabilities.
Several rumors in the past months suggested Apple could release a redesigned iPhone 5 with a larger screen, NFC compatibility and a tweaked Home button design, but recently multiple sources and analysts close to “people familiar with Apple’s plans” seem to believe the next-generation iPhone will launch in September with a design similar to the iPhone 4, and upgrades to the CPU, RAM, and rear-facing camera lens.
iPhone 4S Coming with HSPA+, Minor Design Changes
Jefferies analyst Peter Misek claiming that the next-generation iPhone will be called “iPhone 4S” and it will come with a dual-core A5 processor, and better cameras. Misek also seems to believe the iPhone 4S will indeed feature minor “cosmetic changes” and support for HSPA+ networks.
Because the 4G chips weren’t ready, Apple is going with the minor update to the iPhone 4. Misek also revealed the next version of the phone will work with Sprint, T-Mobile, and China Mobile.
Misek believes the iPhone 5 — which was rumored to have NFC, a bigger screen, 4G connectivity, or a thinner form factor, among other things — will look like an iPhone 4, only faster on the inside.
Component Supply Chain To Face Shortages In Coming Months After Japan Crisis
DigiTimes predicts that there will likely be component shortages in the next two months as a result of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami from earlier this year. In fact, many key players from Asus, HTC, Motorola and Apple have been aggressively acting to secure various components such as PCBs and glass touch panels.
Labels Hoping Apple’s Music Service Will Launch at WWDC
Four major music labels in the US (Warner Music Group, EMI, Sony, Universal) are hoping Apple’s rumored cloud music service will launch next month during the WWDC. The labels are counting on Apple to provide a full-featured music service with iTunes Store integration that would force competitors like Amazon and Google to start paying licensing fees for their “music locker” services. Amazon and Google services users might be able to upload songs they illegally downloaded from the Internet.
Photo of Clipless Next-Gen iPod Nano with 1.3 MP Camera Surfaces
Taiwanese website Apple.pro posted a photo of what they claim to be a seventh generation iPod nano featuring a 1.3 megapixel rear camera. The photo again clearly shows the camera hole, although there is obviously no camera module included with the case. Interestingly, the new photo shows no clip attached to the rear of the case, with the Apple logo appearing directly on the case itself. Today’s photo seems to confirm previous speculation that, in order to make room for the camera, Apple would have to ditch the clip entirely, although it doesn’t make much sense considering Apple has been heavily touting the iPod nano as a sport accessory that can be worn on the outside of the user's clothing for quick access to device functions.
What does the Skype sale mean for Apple customers?
By now everyone seems to know that Microsoft has acquired online communication giant Skype for a huge 8.5 billion dollars. Mac and iOS users immediately questioned the acquisition as a way for Microsoft to turn Skype into an exclusive service for Windows Live-connected devices and other Microsoft products such as the Xbox, Windows 7 and the new Windows Phone 7 OS. Steve Ballmer, however, was quick to reassure everyone that Skype will continue working on the Mac, iOS and all the other platforms it currently runs on (including RIM’s BlackBerry and Symbian). Microsoft, of course, takes Apple as one of the major rivals, though it has a full version of Office 2011 available for Macs, and many apps for iPhones and iPads. The question, however, is whether Skype will ever release a native iPad app as promised last year, and if the new owner will also bring some welcome interface changes to the Mac app.
iPad 2 would have bested 1990s-era supercomputers
Dr. Jack Dongarra, who teaches at the University of Tennessee, is the keeper of the Top 500 list of the fastest supercomputers and also one of the authors of the Linpack computing benchmark, introduced way back in 1979. Dongarra's group decided to check performance iPad 2 having ported Linpack on the device. Tests on the iPad 2 have so far only been run on a single core of the A5 processor, but Dongarra estimates that a dual-core Linpack run will yield performance of between 1.5 and 1.65 gigaflops -- that's up to 1.65 billion floating-point operations per second. That raw performance means that the iPad 2 would have remained on the list of the world's speediest supercomputers until about 1994. The iPad 2, of course, is a 21st century device, but it is amazing that the single-processor iPad 2 has results of the four-processor version of the Cray 2 supercomputer (pictured). Perhaps, in 20 years or less, the power of modern supercomputers could be n an iPhone.