The Apple Watch was highly-anticipated and saw a big launch full of hype, but its Taptic Engine is apparently to blame for its limited supply.
Apple fans have long been waiting for the company's first smartwatch to finally hit commercial availability, but things still aren't as they hoped they would be. The Apple Watch first made its debut back in the fall of 2014, and the company only offered a vague "early 2015" timeframe at the time.
Apple later announced that its much-touted Apple Watch will finally start shipping this April, and has kept its word to some extent. Ever since its commercial release, however, the Apple Watch has been in limited supply, making it difficult for many to get their hands on the device. Wait times have tripled in the meantime, and we may now know why.
According to a new report, the reason behind this short supply for the Apple Watch is related to a defective Taptic Engine. More specifically, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that defects in the Apple Watch Taptic Engine, which is a key component, were found in Apple's supply chain. These defects, in turn, have had a major impact on early supplies of the gadget.
The WSJ further adds that no Apple Watch units have shipped with defective Taptic Engines on board, but some of the initial supply of the component was defective. Apple reportedly relied on two suppliers for the Taptic Engine, and one of them provided faulty units, severely limiting the availability of the Apple Watch as a result.
"A key component of the Apple Watch made by one of two suppliers was found to be defective, prompting Apple Inc. to limit the availability of the highly anticipated new product, according to people familiar with the matter," the WSJ reported.
"After mass production began in February, reliability testing revealed that some taptic engines supplied by AAC Technologies Holdings Inc., of Shenzhen, China, started to break down over time, the people familiar with the matter said. One of those people said Apple scrapped some completed watches as a result."
As previously mentioned, Apple relied on two suppliers for its Taptic Engine - one in China and one in Japan. According to the report, all of the Apple Watch Taptic Engines from the company's Chinese supplier were defective. At least the Japanese supplier came through and provided good Taptic Engines for the gadget, as otherwise Apple would've likely been forced to postpone the Apple Watch release altogether. This way, the company was still able to launch its smartwatch, albeit with limited availability.
