The plans of Apple Inc.’s suppliers to mass produce a larger iPad model have been pushed back to the beginning of next year due to the large demand for the manufacturers latest product, the iPhone 6, has occupied most of their production capacity, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to sources cited by WSJ, the manufacturers planned to start larger volumes of the new iPads starting this December.
The larger screen iPhones launched in September by the Cupertino based company are in such demand that the output for the 5.5″ iPhone Plus still remains unsatisfactory, one of the above mentioned manufacturers announced. Foxconn, one of the largest assemblers of Apple’s iPhones, is reportedly also facing the challenge of finding enough workforce for its Zhengzhou production site. The manufacturer has over 200,000 employees dedicated to assembling the iPhone and producing some of its key components, like metal casings.
According to a Foxconn official, everyone at the company is busy with the new iPhone. Even Terry Gou, Foxconn’s chairman, has traveled to Zhengzhou to be able to better monitor the production. The official called the iPhone “Foxconn’s bread and butter”. Foxconn is a major electronics assembly operation in China, with over 1 million employees, working for companies like Apple, Sony and Microsoft.
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The new iPhone models were a huge success, even by Apple’s standards. The company reports selling over 10 million units over the first weekend of availability. In the last few weeks the company extended the offer to other countries, and will start selling the handsets in China starting October 17th. The company will publish its first update on iPhone sales on October 20th, when it will report its results for the quarter that ended in September. Apple Inc. will organize a media event before that, where the new, larger iPad model is generally expected to be presented.