Ok, the white iPhone 4 was delayed for 9 months and now you’re possibly standing in line at an Apple Store holding a cruel, edged medieval weapon while hoping to snag yours.
There’s a reason why all this happened.
Per All Things Digital, the white iPhone 4 was delayed for nine months because of a lack of UV protection, according to Apple.
Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller went on record to state that similar to humans, especially those with fair skin, white iPhones need protection from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
“It was challenging. It’s not as simple as making something white. There’s a lot more that goes into both the material science of it–how it holds up over time, but also in how it all works with the sensors,” Schiller said.
The mention of the sensors also suggests that the camera was particularly problematic. Steve Wozniak speculated back in January that the camera could have been the major issue.
He said that if the white paint on the glass back of the iPhone 4 wasn’t thick enough, it could let too much light into the camera’s sensor when photographs were taken with the flash. Judging by Schiller’s comments, it seems as if sunlight was also enough to spoil photographs taken on the white iPhone 4 before the problem was resolved.
The white iPhone 4 has gone on sale in the UK and 27 other countries today, nine months after it was initially supposed to launch.