Apple Delaying New 27-inch iMac Shipments

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Apple’s all-in-one iMac has been critically acclaimed for over 10 years, and frequently pops up as #1 on the monthly best selling computer lists, but since the first of this year, users have reported faulty LCD screens that have been plagued by discoloration, flickering and blackouts.

Apple has been vaguely quiet on the topic of their faulty screens, and released a firmware to fix the problem but issues have reportedly persisted. Some on the internet have even reported that new models that they received on exchange were faulty, directly from the factory, leading speculation that the problem was at the factory.

The first hints of the problem came in December, when Apple notified Apple Stores and Apple Shops (you know, the little Apple kisoks in Best Buys) that new iMac shipments would be delayed by two weeks. Keep in mind that the iMac was redesigned in October of 2009, and this was at a peak holiday time when they could have sold a lot of them.

Starting in January, stories of complaints started showing up online, with multiple, long, ranting threads showing up on Apple’s Support Forums online. Oddly enough, the issues have not been reported with Apple’s 21.5-inch iMac.

Apple has issued a few apologies and offered exchange units for any who request them. There is now a three-week lead time on new 27-inch iMacs being ordered from Apple’s Online Store. A few other online retailers have put waiting times on the 27-inch iMac as well. No word has come down from Cupertino (or Taiwan, for that matter) on what is causing these issues or when they’ll be fixed, but Apple certainly doesn’t need this bad press leading into their big iSlate/iTablet/iPad/iWhatever reveal next week.