White iPhone Delayed Again. Now Due Next Spring, Will It Beat The iPhone 5 To Market?

It’s said that you’re not supposed to wear white after Labor Day. Apple, it seems, is sticking with that rule. Yes, the elusive white iPhone has been delayed again.

As Apple representatives have told Reuters, the white version of the device is now not due until next spring. This is the third delay of the device, as it was at first pushed from launch day in June until the second half of July. Then it was pushed until “later this year” in late July. Now for the next question: will it actually beat the next version of the device itself to market?

Like clockwork, Apple unveils a new version of the iPhone each year at their WWDC conference in early June. It usually goes on sale shortly after that in late June/early July. Summer this year doesn’t technically start until June 22, and there’s a very good chance that the next version of the device, let’s call it “iPhone 5”, will at least be unveiled in the spring — now the stated launch of the white iPhone.

Adding to the confusion is the whole Verizon iPhone storyline. It’s generally believed now that Apple will unveil a CDMA version of the iPhone that’s compatible with Verizon’s network in January of next year. It would likely go on sale shortly after that. This should be a modified version of the iPhone 4. But at WWDC, Apple could unify the iPhone product line with a CDMA/GSM version of the iPhone 5. Would Apple really want two other versions (the Verizon iPhone 4 and a white iPhone 4) being released only months or weeks before that?

You’ll note that in the Reuters story, Apple isn’t quoted as saying a “white iPhone 4” is coming, just that a “white iPhone” is. Perhaps the idea now is just to scrap the second shade until the iPhone 5?

That will piss off a lot of people who were waiting for the white one. But for whatever reason, Apple just hasn’t been able to get it made. And that’s odd considering that I played with one at the unveiling of the iPhone 4 in June (see picture above). I didn’t notice anything wrong with it, but there have been reports that it was hard to color the enclosure in the right white pigment or that it was letting light bleed through.

Who knows what is going on. All I know is that this may actually be a better option if you want a white iPhone 4 at this point.

So much for that special edition Disney™ Snow White® iPhone 4 for the holidays!