Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Watch in Short Supply Due to Taptic Engine Bottlenecks
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Doesn't really come as any surprise that the Japanese manufactured taptic engines are far superior than the Chinese made ones. Probably costs more to make them in Japan though, so that company might have just been "filling the gaps" for the Chinese supplier and now the Japanese company will have to seriously ramp up production.
I bet the ones given away as gifts were scrapped. 
----------
^ probably the most awkwardly exaggerated comment ever written on MacRumors.
----------
Probably the greatest comment ever written on MacRumors.
^ probably the most awkwardly exaggerated comment ever written on MacRumors.
My nMP is a work of art, with incredibly beautiful workmanship inside and out. And its performance in Adobe CS6, Final Cut Pro X and any video conversions is nothing short of incredible. A truly amazing product.
Great, and how is that even remotely connected with the subject at hand, the internal design and construction of the Applewatch?
Because some were suggesting Apple no longer 'finishes the back of the drawer' now that Steve Jobs is gone. Which is absurd and just poor trolling. What does a defective part (that was caught and is being fixed) have to do with the internal design of the Watch? When the MBP shipped with faulty Nvidia GPU's did that mean the internal design and construction of the MBP was shoddy? Of course not.
----------
It's a prominent feature of the Watch so I would assume most will be using it. In fact John Gruber said the Watch would not be compelling if it didn't have the taptic engine.
There is another article out today that says apple has "become the stock market". It's 10% of the Dow or something like that. So yeah, this is news. The markets are also down today.
Two things to remember- The sport model is supposed to be lighter, and that may have affected the design of the crown bracket. The second thing is that there is chemistry involved when metal contacts metal, and it's clear from pictures of the aluminum sport and stainless steel watch teardowns that screws and mountings inside the two models are made from different materials. One factor in the decision of what materials to use will be use of screws and mountings that won't cause corrosion of stainless steel or of aluminum. The backside of the drawer would not only get very ugly if bits of metal oxides start flaking off inside the watch, but functionality would also be compromised as those flakes start shorting out circuits or gumming up moving parts.
Many errors in Iwatch
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHIand LORRAINE LUK
Updated April 29, 2015 7:43 p.m. ET
A key component of the Apple Watch made by one of two suppliers was found to be defective, prompting Apple Inc. to limit the availability of the highly anticipated new product, according to people familiar with the matter.
This together with the errors for people with tattoos......
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHIand LORRAINE LUK
Updated April 29, 2015 7:43 p.m. ET
A key component of the Apple Watch made by one of two suppliers was found to be defective, prompting Apple Inc. to limit the availability of the highly anticipated new product, according to people familiar with the matter.
This together with the errors for people with tattoos......
Rog, I'll grant that you're right about some of the other products, but not with respect to the Apple Watch internals.
Nothing to do with any defect. It's just comments about actual looks, especially as compared to Apple marketing's widely disseminated fantasy internal depictions.
If the Watch wouldn't be compelling without a working Taptic Engine, that's not a very good sign. But do you really think it's a major reason people buy one?
I think even you would admit that's stretching it a bit
. Cutting expense by a few pennies is probably more like it.Yes, good point and I actually had thought about that. Doesn't mean that the bracket couldn't have been made from a thicker piece of acceptable metal. Clearly no one spent extra time worrying about the internal looks, is all we're saying.
IMO, there's no reason to, either, as long as they also never try to claim it's got any kinship to traditional watch craftsmanship.
What started the comments was an observation that the fancy-named Taptic Engine, which is depicted as a suave curved solid module by Apple marketing, is in real life nothing like that.
Instead, the mechanical parts are clearly made inexpensively, not optimized space-wise, and overall the module doesn't look like it got any special design consideration beyond getting a logo stamped on it.
Internals are not a big deal to most buyers, of course, so it's more of a topic meant only for debates on fan forums
Luckily my tattoo is on the side of my wrist, so it shouldn't be a problem.. I hope..
I think that's certainly an exaggeration, but it was one of the major things that I was looking forward to before getting the watch. Something that is silent and still felt is a pretty big deal, compared to what I'm used to. Setting a phone on vibrate is really not "silent" since in most cases since you can hear the vibration. In practice, I've found the haptics to be a bit too subtle, but it's still very useful.
Yes and no. Dealing with Chinese manufacturing is a shell game of fraud and supply. They will represent one thing, deliver another and no legal recourse as they are protected by the PRC whom Communist party members may own the company you are dealing with in trade. Then the company is dissolved, new one created and the usual suspects run the show.
----------
Read my last post.
It was a response to another post in the same thread. Not all who w3ander are lost.
Sure, and I think a quieter notice was especially important to Pebble owners, who often complain that its vibrator can wake up an entire conference room
Sure, and I think a quieter notice was especially important to Pebble owners, who often complain that its vibrator can wake up an entire conference room
I just got my Stainless Steel Sport Band today. Taptic felt weaker than when I did a try-on, so I had a friend compare it to his Sport Space Grey (which he forgot today). He said mine is about 1/2 as strong as his on the highest setting. He'll have his watch tomorrow and we'll do some more comparisons, but if it feels weak, it's possible you have defective unit. Might be worth heading to the Apple Store for a comparison as well.
Rog, I'll grant that you're right about some of the other products, but not with respect to the Apple Watch internals.
Nothing to do with any defect. It's just comments about actual looks, especially as compared to Apple marketing's widely disseminated fantasy internal depictions.
If the Watch wouldn't be compelling without a working Taptic Engine, that's not a very good sign. But do you really think it's a major reason people buy one?
I think even you would admit that's stretching it a bit
Yes, good point and I actually had thought about that. Doesn't mean that the bracket couldn't have been made from a thicker piece of acceptable metal. Clearly no one spent extra time worrying about the internal looks, is all we're saying.
IMO, there's no reason to, either, as long as they also never try to claim it's got any kinship to traditional watch craftsmanship.
What started the comments was an observation that the fancy-named Taptic Engine, which is depicted as a suave curved solid module by Apple marketing, is in real life nothing like that.
Instead, the mechanical parts are clearly made inexpensively, not optimized space-wise, and overall the module doesn't look like it got any special design consideration beyond getting a logo stamped on it.
Internals are not a big deal to most buyers, of course, so it's more of a topic meant only for debates on fan forums
That's fine, but go back and have a look at the teardown of the 1st generation iPhone:
It's pretty ugly, too, and that was 100% Steve Jobs' baby. What is that in there? Packing tape? So really, the complaint is that the watch internals don't look as good as the marketing images, which to my eye at least, are quite obviously idealized CG images. I suppose you could argue it's misleading advertising, but that's a bit of a stretch, innit?
Yeah because Apple never had partproblems with products before, certainly not under Steve Jobs. http://gizmodo.com/5061605/apple-co...-macbook-pros-offers-free-repairs-and-refunds
And the inside of Apple products under Steve Jobs were beautiful masterpieces that didn't look like anything else and now they look like garbage. Like the new MacBook and iPhone. Utter garbage. And the nMP, clearly Apple couldn't be bothered there. Steve would be so ashamed.
You guys need to troll harder.
Mr. Kool Aid. Don't even begin to lecture me on being a Troll junior. I currently use more Apple products than most, and have used a Mac exclusively since 1990. Tim is about Margins. Not QC.
But if you stay in contact for the day and age...look at the internals of the iPods of the era. That was THE best internal design for the age, and the iPhone was clearly an extension of that.
Last edited:
I think this report is great and Apple should publicly admit it
If they did find fault with one of the suppliers parts and then removed them from earlier build watches and removed the supplies from the production line. Then they should be applauded... Most companies just care about the bottom lined and would of shipped all of the units and just fixed the problem later, but Apple has pull the part from the supply chain and taken a big it on the stock and in the press for the slow shipments...
I would rater wait for a quality product!
If they did find fault with one of the suppliers parts and then removed them from earlier build watches and removed the supplies from the production line. Then they should be applauded... Most companies just care about the bottom lined and would of shipped all of the units and just fixed the problem later, but Apple has pull the part from the supply chain and taken a big it on the stock and in the press for the slow shipments...
I would rater wait for a quality product!