Apple Delays Sales of UltraFine 5K Display as LG Works on Shielding Fix

[MacRumors]

As LG works on a fix for a Wi-Fi router issue plaguing its UltraFine 27-inch 5K Display, Apple has delayed shipments for the accessory and removed in store pickup options.

New orders for the LG UltraFine 5K Display will now ship out in five to six weeks, ensuring buyers will get a display with updated hardware that fixes the Wi-Fi interference problem.

Prior to the shipping change, the displays were shipping out in a couple of weeks, and for a period in January, shipping estimates were as low as three to five days.

The shipping delay can be attributed to an issue that first popped up shortly after the displays began shipping out to customers in December. Users began noticing display glitches and freezes that were eventually attributed to interference caused by close proximity to a Wi-Fi router. Last week, LG confirmed the existence of a problem, apologized, and announced an official hardware fix.

Going forward, all UltraFine 5K Displays manufactured after February 2017 include additional shielding, protecting them against electromagnetic radiation from routers.

Existing models are also able to be retrofitted with the same improved shielding, and customers who have already purchased a display will need to get in touch with LG support to arrange a repair to solve the problem.

Created by Apple and LG to work with the new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro models, the UltraFine 5K Display continues to be available for $974, a 25 percent discount off of the standard $1,299.95 price tag. Special pricing, part of a sale on USB-C accessories, will be available until March 31.

Update: In line with Apple removing its in-store pickup tool, the LG UltraFine 5K Display appears to be temporarily out of stock at all Apple retail stores. A tipster informed us the Apple Store in Walnut Creek, CA was unable to process his LG UltraFine 5K Display purchase on Thursday:

When the Apple Store manager tried to sell it to me, the internal system would not allow him to sell it. As an experiment, he tried inputting a 4K model, successfully, which confirmed that the sales lockout only applies to the 5K monitor.

MacRumors called Apple Stores in New York, Toronto, and elsewhere, and all of the locations confirmed the display was out of stock. Apple's central call center is also unable to check availability of the display.

Article Link: Apple Delays Sales of UltraFine 5K Display as LG Works on Shielding Fix

 

[prowlmedia]

Sigh. Should have made your own, Apple.

I actually like the industrial styling of this but damn those bezels are huge.

 

[Corrode]

Gonna keep my display for another week till the end of it's return window then request a replacement I guess. Apple should've never gotten out of the display game. What a debacle.

 

[Naraxus]

I foresee more and more problems like this in the future for Apple....

 

[PatriotInvasion]

Yuck, yuck, yuck. Imagine working your way through 14 automated voice menus calling LG for some script reader to tell you to ship it to them for repair a few weeks after you dropped a grand on this thing?

Apple, bring back the Thunderbolt Display please.

 

[djcerla]

Existing models are also able to be retrofitted

And they'll send you a sticker "I've been retrofitted by LG", free of charge.

 

[kildraik]

Bummer. Was thinking of this monitor.

I may just go with the 38" ultra wide. Not really up to wait an additional 3 weeks.

 

[- rob -]

Gonna keep my display for another week till the end of it's return window then request a replacement I guess. Apple should've never gotten out of the display game. What a debacle.

It is an interesting position to be in. In order to build great products themselves, it takes investment and work. In order to support another company's products that aren't great, it takes investment and work.

Hopefully working with LG will end up being less investment and work, because the product isn't great.

 

[simonmet]

This is Tim Cook's Apple people!

 

[dwaltwhit]

Maybe I'm just missing something, but why does this monitor need wifi?

 

[iMi]

The fact that Apple is selling monitors that are stylistically and visually so different from the computers they are intended to match shows the lack of attention given to the user experience.

Brand cohesiveness is out the Windows, I guess.

 

[JamonBull]

Ugh. Wish they'd just make a killer 5k standalone Apple display. Seriously. This has been ridiculous.

 

[smacrumon]

COMPLETE DUD FROM GO TO WHOA! Even that screen wallpaper in the product shot is average.
Quit this sh-- Apple. Release your own designed displays. This is just too ridiculous. There's too much nonsense going on here.
[doublepost=1486682012][/doublepost]

Sigh. Should have made your own, Apple.

I actually like the industrial styling of this but damn those bezels are huge.

Not to mention the bezels are irregular and asymmetrical.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

This was just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Sheza]

Sigh. Should have made your own, Apple.

I actually like the industrial styling of this but damn those bezels are huge.

The Apple Cinema display bezels were much larger... like the top bezel all the way round.

 

[WRChris]

Sigh. Should have made your own, Apple.

I actually like the industrial styling of this but damn those bezels are huge.

Why echo the same things over and over? Complaining about the bezels does nothing productive and that's all anyone ever says.

It's easy to hate on products you have no intention of buying. I've never used this display but from what I hear it's pretty darn good.

 

[btrach144]

Maybe I'm just missing something, but why does this monitor need wifi?

It doesn't need Wi-Fi. It's missing tin foil shielding around the display components. Since the shielding isn't there, the display components are interfered when devices that transmit strong signals are placed close by. In this case, Wi-Fi base stations emit a large amount of interference and cause the display to not work.
[doublepost=1486682585][/doublepost]Tom Cook continues to lose his mind thinking that this was ever going to work.

 

[BigJohno]

How hard was it to make your own display Apple!!??? When you outsource a product like this to another company you don't get the same oversight as something that was developed in house. I mean seriously, would anyone bat an eye if it was 1200 or even 1500 dollars for this monitor if it had Apple's ID? I cannot get behind this decision they made...

 

[manu chao]

Tom Cook continues to lose his mind thinking that this was ever going to work.

Yeah, how could he expect things to work out for the remaining 10% of Mac users with an external display that worked out for 90% of all Mac user with an external display: Using a third-party display. /s

 

[meaning-matters]

Wow, that's a low rating!

 

[brentsg]

At least this got enough attention for a fix. My LG ultrawide display has issues that could be fixed by firmware update but they simply don't care.

No way I'd ever consider another LG display.

 

[Max Portakabin]

This whole LG farce is why Steve never put the wellbeing of his company in the hands of a third party.

Hardware before any smart hole mentions apps.

 

[Wowereit]

This whole LG farce is why Steve never put the wellbeing of his company in the hands of a third party.

Hardware before any smart hole mentions apps.

Isn't it basically confirmed that Steve didn't want an App Store at first because he wants to control the entire user experience? Wasn't it Forestall and a handful of others who convinced him at the end?

 

[manu chao]

This whole LG farce is why Steve never put the wellbeing of his company in the hands of a third party.

Which is why Apple discontinued its printer line in 1999, two years after Jobs returned to Apple.

 

[robeddie]

Wow, that's a low rating!

Yep. Reading some of those reviews make you realize that the bad shielding was only one of many problems.

As many have said before me, this was clearly another bungle of the modern Apple era.