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Chinese rumor suggests Apple Watch to launch in February, sapphire to blame for low supply

Apple-Watch-Emojji

Chinese site Feng is reporting that Taiwanese media is saying that Apple wants to launch the smartwatch sometime in February. Most recently, The Information said Apple would be “lucky” to release the Apple Watch by Valentine’s Day. Officially, Apple has only quoted ‘early 2015’ as a launch window for the Apple Watch.

According to the report, Apple is supply constrained by the sapphire output of GTAT, which will mean the Apple Watch will hit in limited quantities. However, it is important to note that the low-end Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Sport, does not use sapphire at all, which will make that model easier to source. The higher end versions, Apple Watch and Apple Watch Edition are the SKU’s that will be impacted by sapphire shortages.

Most notably, right now the limiting factor on Apple Watch isn’t really component availability. First things first, Apple needs to finish the development of the Apple Watch software and hardware internally.

To date, all of the Apple Watch’s handled by press have been non-functional, showing only non-interactive videos of the user interface. This means that Apple still has a long way to go before the device is in any kind of shippable state. It has been previously rumored that Apple is working hard to improve battery longevity, for example.

Moreover, although Apple has announced WatchKit, which will enable third-party developers to create interactive notifications for the Watch, no SDK has been released to actually allow development. Apple Watch integration may come as part of iOS 8.2 for example, which is currently in development.

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Comments

  1. Alan Aurmont - 9 years ago

    God, I hope it won’t be as disastrous a launch as iPhone 6 where scalpers scooped up every single model and shipped it back to China for resale. Ah, the irony. Apple, get your act together!

    • Chris Sanders - 9 years ago

      Apple can do pre-order online and in-store pickup only to limit the scalping.

    • taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

      This is the first release in awhile that scalping was bad. It’s not Apples fault China was pissed about iCloud privacy and decided not to do day one release this year. The Cinese Givernment is to blame. Just like it was to blame for all the scalping when Apple had to sell them in China without wifi.

  2. Chris Sanders - 9 years ago

    And you know I want the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Edition

    • 9to5savio - 9 years ago

      Edition is gonna be dang pricey. Me and my wife will get the Sport now (our 10th anniversary) and then we’ll get the Editions for our 15th anniversaries 5 years from now when the money is more free.

  3. taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

    How can Saphire be restrained and the hold up when the design isn’t finalized yet? Also like to know how a Chinese site knows the output of a factory in Arizona.

    My bet is Apple has another event in Febaury and Aplle Watxh, iPad Pro and 12″ MacBook Air are previews with all going on sale in March.

    Everything in the Apple Watch is in flux now, so all rumors are pretty much worthless until Apple finalizes the design. Reports are mixed if it’s in the first stage of production testing or not. 2nd stage testing will most likely be late November with 3rd stage is Janaury. Full ramp up would probably be March.

  4. Toro Volt (@torovolt) - 9 years ago

    I think I am gonna get a Pebble instead. Battery last 5-7 days is a mature product cost, way less and is water proof. The Apple watch seems overkill needs constant reacharging and will only works with certain Apple products.

    • herb02135go - 9 years ago

      Good idea.
      Let the sheep get the models with the defects. You know there will be bugs- why should you suffer?

      • Andrew John - 9 years ago

        Bugs? You mean like malware? The kind of malware you’ll find in 90% of android trash? I thought every samescum phones were prototypes? They run like them. Weighed down by that wonderful brick called touchwiz. How to fuck android up without even trying. “Clap clap clap”!!

  5. Taste_of_Apple - 9 years ago

    That would be around Valentine’s Day. Could be a great time to buy some presents with an Apple logo.

  6. RP - 9 years ago

    Hmm, I did not know the sdk was not out yet

  7. hingedthinker - 9 years ago

    Reblogged this on Blogagility and commented:
    Hurry up Apple! :-)

  8. crateish (@crateish) - 9 years ago

    Try abandoning China, Apple.

  9. chrisl84 - 9 years ago

    Supply and Demand to blame for low supply. Any good company knows if you want to make a product desirable restrict supply. Then owning one becomes exclusive. Its the oldest marketing trick in the book because it works. “Get ‘um while they’re hot”

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.