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iWatch production woes reportedly a massive headache for Apple

Published Jan 2nd, 2014 4:40PM EST

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As if the endless rumormongering and speculation wasn’t bad enough, Apple’s first wearable device is reportedly suffering a setback that could delay its release even further. According to Digitimes, both Apple’s iWatch and Qualcomm’s Toq smartwatch are “seeing less than 50% yield rates due to difficulties applying surface treatments on their metal injection molded (MIM) chassis.” The report says that although this process has been a part of the industry for some time, MIM is traditionally used on internal components. Now that the external design of many devices includes these components, manufacturers are beginning to stress the importance of surface treatments. Apple, Qualcomm and other device makers are having to balance between efficiency and quality, and if the sources are correct, they are having a hard time finding that balance.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.