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Apple iPhone 5 delays? Blame the screen technology.

Apple is having trouble immediately fulfilling pre-order demand for the iPhone 5. And according to a new report, that's thanks to the new 'in-cell' display technology. 

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Reuters
An Apple iPhone 5 phone is displayed in the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New York.
  • By Matthew Shaer

The iPhone 5: It launched last week. It was popular. It remains popular (although perhaps not quite as popular as some analysts had predicted). And it is delayed.

If you pre-ordered an iPhone 5 sometime in the last 10 days, there's a good chance you won't see your shiny, new, big-screen smartphone until October, which is something of a hassle if you're one of those instant-gratification types. 

So what's behind the delay? Well, according to a new report in Bloomberg, it's the rejiggered display on the iPhone 5. In the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, the display and touch sensor were separate. In the iPhone 5, they're twinned – the technology is called "in-cell." Bloomberg says it's taking Apple longer than expected to wrestle up the various parts needed for the in-cell displays and to actually assemble the screens. 

"This is like the opening weekend for the summer blockbuster movie," Tom Dinges, senior principal analyst at IHS iSuppli, told Bloomberg. "They needed to get a lot of products in the door during a tight window, and these supply constraints that were talked about probably did have some impact." But have no fear: Dinges expects that the supply stream should speed up exponentially in coming weeks. 

In the meantime, as Eric Zeman of InformationWeek points out, there are still a few ways to get your hands on a new iPhone. 

"First, you can try your luck at your local Apple retail store, though Apple warns 'limited quantities may also be for in-store pickup on a first-come, first-served basis,'" Zeman writes. "Second, you can try calling around wireless network operators' stores and other retailers to see if they have any in stock. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless, as well as Best Buy, RadioShack, Target, and Wal-Mart are selling the iPhone 5."

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