iWatch Release Date: New Smartwatch to Follow iPhone 6 Closely in October 2014
Apple's wearable iOS device, the iWatch, still doesn't have a confirmed release date, but there is speculations that it will come out in 2014. Some have suggested, however, that the iWatch may only be sold in limited quantities.
The release of the iWatch may just depend on when the iPhone 6 will be made available in the market. Apple's plans to release the iPhone 6, then the iWatch, the OS X Yosemite, the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, the iPad Pro, and lastly the new Macs.
Current speculation puts the release date of the iPhone 6 in October, though reports previously stated that the release date would be in September. The change in the release date was caused by the delay in production brought about by the large production quotas to meet Apple's projected demand.
The iWatch's limited availability puts the device's production at around 3 million units at the end of 2014. The prediction was made by Ming-Chi Kuo, a famous analyst of KGI Securities, based on the recent supply chain checks. Market predictions, however, put the iWatch's production number at 5 million to 10 million units by the end of the year.
Kuo also pointed out that the limited availability of sapphire glass and the difficulty of developing the software has slowed the production of the iWatch. The limitation of the availability of sapphire glass will even put half of the iWatch units on standard Gorilla glass displays.
If the iPhone 6 does get released in October, the iWatch should follow closely behind. The releases will most likely be divided between 2014 and 2015 because of the limited number of units made available for the initial release. Production should improve once the initial units of the iWatch are released.
