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Quanta vice-chairman reportedly acknowledges “limited shipments” of Apple Watch, says capacity now fully up to speed

If you’ve been waiting impatiently for your Apple Watch to arrive, there may be some good news today. Quanta vice chairman CC Leung reportedly said that while the company had struggled to meet orders to date, the company’s capacity problems have been solved and production is now fully up to speed.

Because of labor shortages during the Lunar New Year holidays, Quanta was forced to borrow manpower from other manufacturers and was only able to deliver limited shipments in the first quarter. However, Quanta already has sufficient capacity to manufacture all the orders and should see a giant contribution from its wearable device business in the second quarter.

While not identifying the Apple Watch by name, there seems little doubt that this is the ‘wearable’ in question … 

Leung said that his remarks referred to a wearable “unlike the smartwatches it produced before.”

The source is DigiTimes, whose record is rather mixed, but the fact that Leung is said to have declined to specifically name the device does lend at least some credibility.

We noted earlier that the first of the long-awaited Space Black stainless steel Apple Watches have now started arriving, Mark Gurman sharing photos of his own watch. Quanta production estimates were last month cited as one of the sources of a model breakdown estimate put forward by a technology consultancy.

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Comments

  1. jacosta45 - 9 years ago

    So this means we are able to place orders and have them delivered next week :)

    • proudappleuser - 9 years ago

      I wish. I ordered my 42mm Space Black on April 11th. I finally got an update from just June…now it’s June 22-25. Oh boy!

      /s

      • theaccidental - 9 years ago

        Same here, ordered April 27…Processing Items Available to ship: 5-6 weeks
        Delivers: 22 Jun, 2015 – 29 Jun, 2015 by Standard Shipping

      • damn it, i ordered mine on the same day and its still july for me, ur lucky

    • galley99 - 9 years ago

      I ordered the 42 SS BSB on April. It’s not due to ship until June 22 – 29.

      • galley99 - 9 years ago

        April 13th.

    • Ordered April 12th. “Delivers: 22 Jun, 2015 – 29 Jun”.

      I am seeing a pattern here.

  2. rogifan - 9 years ago

    Hmm…I’m always skeptical about reports like this. I have a hard time believing Apple’s manufacturing partners would openly talk about something like this….if they want to manufacture for Apple in the future.

    • mpnine - 9 years ago

      They don’t mention it by name, and they are still allowed to speak to their production capacity, as it is still a publicly traded company that has to keep it’s investors happy. Letting them know that they’re getting up to speed is one way to appease them.

  3. My 42mm space grey says 5-6 weeks as of this morning

    • Tom Barclay - 9 years ago

      STILL waiting for my 42mm Sport Watch in Space Grey which I ordered the moment the store became available on April 10th a little after 3am ET. Order has been “processing” since then with a delivery date of May 13-27. No updates yet.

      • f◎xx (@jfoxx) - 9 years ago

        Exact same story. I ordered a 42mm Sport Watch in Space Grey as quickly as I could (received confirmation at 3:10am). Stuck in “processing” with May 13-27 delivery.

      • Ted Waterworth - 9 years ago

        I ordered a 42 mm sport watch in space grey as well and had a confirmation email @ 12:08am Pacific Time. It just shipped on Friday the 15th of May and is scheduled to be delivered on Monday the 18th of May. Hope that helps others judge when they should see theirs.

    • I ordered mine around supper time the day pre orders started and mine is may 29th- june 11th

  4. This might sound really negative, but for ME (emphasis) the entire Apple Watch craze is old news now. First shipments arrived 04.24.15, three weeks ago. I’ve been wearing mine every day since then. When people excitedly start conversations with me about my Watch I don’t respond with any enthusiasm, but I do give them my extremely abbreviated review of the Watch as not to be rude. I just see it as another watch in my collection now. This feeling started probably a week or so ago. In fact, this weekend may be the first weekend I switch this watch out for one of my mechanical watches.

    I’m glad people are starting to get their Watches though.

  5. T.bias - 9 years ago

    Ordered Space Grey Watch Sport on April 10th with a confirmation email at 12:14am (I made the mistake of using the website instead of the mobile app).

    My order is, and has been for over a month now, “Processing” with an “available to ship” of 4-6 weeks. No updates from Apple. I have seen many similar orders already delivered. Every day I wake up without a notice of shipment is just another jab in the kidneys from Apple.

    With people like me still out there, basic Watches with shipping estimates in July, and not a single Apple retail store with any stock for sale, then production is NOT “fully up to speed”!

    • Ted Waterworth - 9 years ago

      I agree with you about being “fully up to speed”. Here is some info I hope you can use to judge how much more time you might have to wait. I ordered a 42 mm sport watch in space grey as well and had a confirmation email @ 12:08am Pacific Time. It just shipped on Friday the 15th of May and is scheduled to be delivered on Monday the 18th of May. Hope that helps!

      • T.bias - 9 years ago

        I just got notified that my SG watch was charged to my card just after midnight, then my status was changed to “preparing for shipment” shortly thereafter. It has yet to ship…

        Did your watch arrive today?

  6. zBrain (@joeregular) - 9 years ago

    so now we also know the reason why apple does not ship products in the first quarter of the year.

    but because their last major event is around october, and 6 months would be the maximum time they can announce and then ship a product (e.g. iPhone), they were forced to ship around this time…

    i would guess, should apple update the apple watch, that would be in may next year at the earliest.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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