Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told an audience during an interview that the much-delayed white iPhone 4 could ship soon.
Apple
co-founder Steve Wozniak suggested in a live interview that the white iPhone 4
had encountered manufacturing problems, dovetailing with persistent rumors
behind the smartphone variant's persistent delays.
In his Jan. 30 studio talk with Engadget, Wozniak
said he thought the white iPhone 4 would nonetheless ship soon. "They're going
to become available," he told the audience, after repeatedly suggesting that he
had scarce information about Apple's inner workings. "All indications from
Verizon and GSM suppliers" are that "white iPhones are coming."
Wozniak's own
white iPhone 4, conveniently on his person, had been assembled from parts
ordered online from a teenager. "It takes bad flash photos," he said. "The
picture with flash was like taken through cellophane." If that wasn't bad
enough, the smartphone's proximity sensor is also faulty.
The white
parts in Wozniak's kit had apparently come from someone at Foxconn, which
manufactures iPhones and other Apple devices. Although the black iPhone 4
remains a front-and-center part of Apple's product lineup, the option to
purchase a white iPhone 4 disappeared from the company's Website some time ago.
In December,
the blog
9to5Mac reported that the white iPhone 4 would
appear in spring 2011, based off a photograph of alleged Apple Store signage
with the words, in small type: "The white iPhone 4 will be available Spring
2011."
Despite
repeated delays, Apple has kept silent on the reasons behind
the white iPhone 4's supposed manufacturing difficulties.
In October, "a source with connections at Apple" told the blog Cult of Mac that
ambient light leaked into the white iPhone 4's case, affecting its ability to
take "accurate pictures." Apple planned on delaying the smartphone, the blog
continued, until the camera sensor had been isolated.
The iPhone 4's
body incorporates two panes of chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass,
rimmed by a stainless-steel band. Other sources attributed the smartphone's
delay to issues with whitening the glass to the desired thickness and opacity.
Apple is also
gearing up for the Feb. 10 launch of the Verizon iPhone, which will sell for
$199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model with a two-year contract.
Hardware- and software-wise, the Verizon device features few differences from
the one already available through AT&T, with the exception of a redesigned
exterior antenna. Verizon also plans on offering a 3G wireless hotspot feature
with the iPhone 4 for $20 a month for 2GB data,
according to online reports.
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