Apple has reportedly hit a snag in the development of the iPhone 5S.
According to "industry sources," DigiTimes reported Apple may reduce the number of iPhone 5S orders during its first-quarter release due to "poor yields of fingerprint recognition and LCD driver ICs."
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The fingerprint recognition chip's volume production was expected to start late June or early July, however, its development has allegedly been put on hold until the end of this month. The delay could affect the early supply and shipments of the iPhone 5S. The report noted 3 million units of the initial iPhone 5S shipments will be delayed.
The fingerprint sensor chip is designed by AuthenTec, which Apple acquired in July 2012 for $356 million.
As Latinos Post reported last July, AuthenTec is a Delaware-based company known for its fingerprint devices for both commercial and governmental use. One of its customers was Apple's rival Samsung. Another customer of AuthenTec is Hewlett-Packard, which offers some of their notebooks with a fingerprint scanner.
The iPhone 5S is expected to launch in September.
Jefferies analyst Peter Misek stated the next Apple smartphone is likely to launch in late September or early October. In terms of overall iPhones, Misek projects Apple to order 50 to 55 million iPhones during the fourth business quarter: 5 million would be the iPhone 4S; 20 million low-cost iPhones; and 25 million for the iPhone 5S.
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