14 DAY TRIAL // People in the tech industry with connections to Apple’s part suppliers say Apple could be facing constrained iPhone 5S supplies because Xintec, a TSMC subsidiary making the phone’s fingerprint sensor, is moving at a slow pace.
Industry sources quoted by Taiwan’s DigiTimes (which isn’t always accurate) report “a delay in production of fingerprint sensors needed for the iPhone 5S,” as the primary cause why Apple won’t be able to ship more than 3-4 million units in the third quarter of 2013.
This is reportedly compared to 10 million units as originally planned by the Cupertino giant. However, we can only take the sources’ word for it. Apple hasn’t disclosed such numbers.
Whether or not the sources read All Things D, they claim the iPhone 5S is “scheduled to be unveiled on September 10,” just like the WSJ-owned blog did.
The sources reveal that “Mass production of the fingerprint sensors was originally scheduled to begin in May at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and then to be packaged at Xintec.”
However, Xintec (a TSMC subsidiary) has been experiencing “issues related to integration between iOS 7 and fingerprint chips,” which caused low yield rates.
As a result, the report implies, Apple won’t have enough iPhone 5S units to satisfy demand. However, DigiTimes forgets that Apple has a second new iPhone prepared for unveiling this year (likely made by multiple manufacturers).
Also worth noting is that calendar-Q3 ends in late-September.
Nonetheless, “An engineering team composed of engineers from Apple and TSMC has been dispatched to Xintec recently to help ramp up the yield rate for the packaging of fingerprint sensors,” according to the sources.
The same people added that volume production of the fingerprint chips would start at the end of August, while production of the iPhone 5S would pick up Steam in the fourth quarter, when Apple should be shipping 28-30 million units “thanks to sufficient supplies of fingerprint chips,” the sources concluded.