Early iPhone 5S Shipments May Be Constrained Due to Poor Fingerprint Sensor Yields

[salesguy]

I doubt Apple employs the technique by intentionally limiting available product, but instead merely takes advantage of product selling out.

Some people do not understand the technical issues with ramping up a new product, like the iPhone. There are first issues assembling all the new components en mass as well as assembling the final device. Many of the manufacturing issues get ironed out over the first few weeks of manufacturing. New issues sometimes pop up.

Moreover, companies also have to be conservative in managing initial supply to match demand. Apple had to take a 250 million write off over lack luster sales of its very cool but expensive Cube. Companies like Blackberry, HP, and now perhaps Microsoft misjudged initial demand and had to take losses.

Because this is what the SEVENTH phone they are launching and still haven't figured all the details out?

 

[heifetz7]

I can think of one main reason why Apple is going through the trouble of including biometric technology on the iPhone, Payments. It's probably not going to be in the 5S, but it'll probably be on future iphones. Just including biometric to replace passkey doesn't make any sense, and doesn't solve a big problem. I'm guessing Apple will make a big play on mobile payments next year.

 

[louiek]

Not convinced by the fingerprint sensor business. I mean, is tapping four numbers that hard?

I've got keepassx on my mac. I just have to click on any particular login/xterm window with a unique title, hit a hotkey, and it enters my username and password. If Apple's implementation was able to recognise the website/app you wanted to log in to and do it with a single touch of the home button I would cream in my jeans.

 

[jbachandouris]

Supplies constrained? Don't we hear the same BS every time a new iPhone is rumored? I wish I was a so called 'analyst,' so I could make up stories and get paid. Idiots.

 

[autrefois]

Waa, waa, waaaa. Really lame attempt at a jab there...sorry.

Wow, that was such a poignant comeback, though! I don't want a fingerprint sensor on my phone. And based on comments here and elsewhere on MR, I'm not the only one to think it's unnecessary at best. It is apparently going to delay the phone and/or constrict supplies for a feature I have no use for. And the recent revelations about widespread abuse of information gathering make me want a fingerprint sensor on my phone even less now than I used to. Tech companies and the government have shown they can't be trusted with our data, so I'm not sure why I should be providing them my fingerprints as well.

 

[techwhiz]

Apple needs to get a serious strangle hold on manufacturers because every single launch is plagued by these issues

Huh????

If the technology is new and innovative, what do you do????
Anyway, a feature of a yet announced product, being delayed when there is no date?????

Right.........

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Anyway, this is my theory based on human perception. I don't know for a fact that apple employs this technique but one would simple look at the lines at a product launch for apple, versus the rest of the industry to see it in motion.

What kind of profitable sales technique intentionally denies consumers a product they want "right now"? The whole idea of "shorting" a product as a marketing tool for non-collectibles is urban legend. Companies do not do this. It serves them no purpose to turn away fickle customers who have their wallet out today, but maybe not tomorrow. (One in the hand is better than two in the bush, and all that).

A good example: The Surface RT. Recall it "sold out" at launch due world wide launch + cautious sales projection. It's being fire saled today. Don't you think Microsoft in hindsight wished it had been more aggressive in production estimates on the front end rather than judging demand based on selling out the first small production run? Being "sold out" didn't affect anyone psychologically to think they had to have a Surface RT. Good products sell. Period. Bad ones need real incentives, not just hype like "sold out."

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Because this is what the SEVENTH phone they are launching and still haven't figured all the details out?

Every iPhone model is different. It's not like a car in a mid-model cycle where the manufacture slaps on new body molding to the existing model to make it look different. Each iPhone model has a completely different build from the logic board up. Parts are different, construction changed, the tooling modified, factory employees retrained to the new model specifics.

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Supplies constrained? Don't we hear the same BS every time a new iPhone is rumored? I wish I was a so called 'analyst,' so I could make up stories and get paid. Idiots.

Yes, but smart idiots because they ARE getting paid for shoveling this crap out.

 

[topmounter]

They should just poach the sensors off decommissioned Thinkpads.

#managingthedecline

 

[teejaysplace]

So we waited more than 8 months for the new iMac, just because they were unable to produce the screen that no one was waiting for and now we have to wait for the new iPhone because of a sensor that no one needs. Great.

And in the meantime Samsung and the other Android phone manufacturers roll over the market. Maybe that's not the most promising strategy to overcome a loss in market share.

Please tell us more about how you've run a successful Fortune 500 company.

 

[mono1980]

It'll be interesting to see how easily the scanner can be fooled. I remember a mythbusters episode where they fooled the most expensive fingerprint scanner in the world with a photocopy of the finger!

Who cares. Who has a photocopy of their finger lying around?

 

[macs4nw]

Will they store my fingerprint in the cloud? I have an over-active imagination that some friends say borders on paranoia, mostly my cat, and can see a hundred different ways this could go bad.D.

This is something I've also pondered. In the end, to a computer, fingerprints (while being super convenient), as well as passwords, are ultimately just a string of 0s and 1s, and therefore hackable, with one notable distinction: when compromised, you can change your password, but not your fingerprint.

 

[Tinmania]

Not convinced by the fingerprint sensor business. I mean, is tapping four numbers that hard?

Four numbers is the most basic of passcodes. I don't use a 4 digit numeric passcode. Since I have it set to lock in a minute I am entering this code many times per day.

A reliable and secure fingerprint scanner would be very useful to me. I can't possibly be the only one who sees the value in it now--let alone if and when it is actually out in the wild (assuming it performs up to Apple standards).

Even if I was only using a 4 digit passcode I would still welcome a fingerprint scanner.



Michael

 

[Tiger8]

blah

this whole 5s mess is blah, seriously Apple can you be any more boring? the 's' line was fantastic in 2009, 'okay' in 2011, but now it's just plain lazy.

Hanging on to my 4s -- one more year for the 6

 

[Websnapx2]

Not convinced by the fingerprint sensor business. I mean, is tapping four numbers that hard?

That's the problem, it's not... now factor in Mobile payments. Finger print scanner is WAY more secure than a pin. Now you may not want to use that mobile payment features that is inevitably what this will be used for plus it will be a huge boon for the enterprise market. Also, later on, you may change your mind and want to give it a shot – it will already be on your phone.

 

[sulpfiction]

Not convinced by the fingerprint sensor business. I mean, is tapping four numbers that hard?

I have a feeling that the new tech is gonna be a whole lot different then what we're used to seeing. I'd be willing to bet its gonna be a "wow" feature. Unlike the FP sensor on my dads thinkpad.

 

[Nightarchaon]

oh look Siri, another feature to join you in the "i am never going to use it" category

 

[Websnapx2]

Because this is what the SEVENTH phone they are launching and still haven't figured all the details out?

this isn't he seventh time they are launching THIS phone, is it? I believe every iteration is either different in shape or component so no one phone model is the same as the other.

 

[Iconoclysm]

It'll be interesting to see how easily the scanner can be fooled. I remember a mythbusters episode where they fooled the most expensive fingerprint scanner in the world with a photocopy of the finger!

Not very easily, if at all.

 

[macs4nw]

.....In early April, reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that production issues would likely "delay" iPhone 5S into September and that Apple's third quarter would see smaller shipment growth than previously expected.

Reuters followed up with its own report in late April, mirroring Kuo's report claiming that production issues would likely result in delay's for Apple's newest flagship device.

Article Link: Early iPhone 5S Shipments May Be Constrained Due to Poor Fingerprint Sensor Yields

Apple needs to get a serious strangle hold on manufacturers because every single launch is plagued by these issues

Easier said than done. In the end, tech companies are totally at the mercy of their supply chain. All tech companies are under competitive pressure with new product releases, but they may have to be more aware in the future as to what is a possible and realistic time frame, or risk alienating their consumers.

As the ever-increasing level of sophistication of components we 'demand' in our products reaches higher and higher, and the level of difficulty in manufacturing and assembly of these components increases, I can only see this 'problem' of initial supply scarcity becoming worse.

 

[SatManager]

I hope there is an option not to have this finger print sensor operational. We have several iPodt and an iPad that we share in our family. That means many people are using several devices.

Furthermore, fingers are sometimes dirty, might have paint on them that would interfere with a finger print and finger prints change due to work, callousing and injury.

Biosensors should be by passable when not desired. We don't use the key code lock either - waste of time.

Actually, with all of the different US State Attorney Generals looking at Apple and Samsung for not doing enough to secure phones to prevent phone theft, this could be Apples answer to prevent them from filing court actions against them. All Apple would have to do is install the features with them activated but with the ability to be overridden by the owner of the phone. Then everyone is happy and covered.

 

[nekonari]

My guesses:

• fingerprint lockscreen unlock;
• fingerprint passwords (that's why they announced iCloud Keychain );
• fingerprint Apple ID authentication.

I'd personally wait an extra month to get this new sensor. There are too many passwords to remember nowadays.

While I'm eager to start living a life without passwords, I'm wondering... how will this sensor work? Is it gonna be embedded underneath screen? Like we just put our finger on a spot on a iPhone screen where an app (or iOS) is scanning for fingerprint, and it just reads it? Or will it be embedded under home button (I think this was the speculation when the news broke about Apple's acquisition of this tech company), and we swipe our finger on it like how those fingerprint readers on laptops worked?

And will this be a simple password/passcode replacement, or will this have larger implication like bringing your phone closer to replacing your wallet (with combination of this and NFC?)

I'd love to see the world where a phone is ID/credit card/everything else.

 

[inlinevolvo]

Wow, that was such a poignant comeback, though! I don't want a fingerprint sensor on my phone. And based on comments here and elsewhere on MR, I'm not the only one to think it's unnecessary at best. It is apparently going to delay the phone and/or constrict supplies for a feature I have no use for. And the recent revelations about widespread abuse of information gathering make me want a fingerprint sensor on my phone even less now than I used to. Tech companies and the government have shown they can't be trusted with our data, so I'm not sure why I should be providing them my fingerprints as well.

Let me get this straight. You use a smartphone which can track your location, a provider that records every single call you make and receive, but it is an optional finger print scanner that broke the camels back? I'm glad snowmen woke everyone up, but NSA spying is neither news, nor a recent happening.

 

[SatManager]

This is something I've also pondered. In the end, to a computer, fingerprints (while being super convenient), as well as passwords, are ultimately just a string of 0s and 1s, and therefore hackable, with one notable distinction: when compromised, you can change your password, but not your fingerprint.

Actually, you have 10 of them, 5 on each hand. Each finger (and thumb) is different so you have 10 unique code strings.

 

[FelixDerKater]

this whole 5s mess is blah, seriously Apple can you be any more boring? the 's' line was fantastic in 2009, 'okay' in 2011, but now it's just plain lazy.

Hanging on to my 4s -- one more year for the 6

Maybe you'd prefer an iPhone 5 Max or Ultra?

How about an iPhone ONE, since the original iPhone had no trailing number?

They could even throw Samsung for a loop and call it the iPhone S5 to throw off the Galaxy series naming for next year.

 

[aggemam]

Different actions for each finger

If the screen itself can detect fingerprints, you could have different actions for each finger. Use the 'pinky' to 'right click', ring finger to rotate the map, and so on.