Is the Apple Watch already in trouble?

A month from tomorrow, the Apple Watch - and the first product category to be created by a post-Jobs Apple - will launch. Expectations for the wearable are mixed, but apps and user benefits might be the least of Cupertino's worries right now.

A new report from Taiwanese media outlet UDN (via G for Games), quoting supply chain sources, claims that a production issue may lead Apple to cut Watch shipments in half.

Said issue is related to the production of the watch's AMOLED display that Apple has reportedly opted for, a shift from its usual choice of LCD.

That's just one source, which isn't an awful lot to go on. However it echoes a previous report from CTimes published earlier this month which claimed that Watch manufacturer Quanta is producing a defect-free yield of 30%.

As a result, 3000 Foxconn workers were reported to be joining Quanta to bring that number up. A separate report from a separate source that, again, could be nonsense. But combined with today's story, the evidence is beginning to mount up.

Wear woes

Apple's initial shipment targets were, supposedly, between 2.5 and 3 million units. If there's truth to the latest news, that number could be brought down to as little a 1.25 million. That would obviously make the Watch a more exclusive prospect.

Still, this isn't the first time Apple has been hit with 'production problem' headlines and come up smelling of roses. For example, last year there was talk that the iPhone 6 Plus might be pushed back due to the yield rate of the in-cell touch panel.

As it turned out, everything was fine.

• Are these the apps that will make the Apple Watch a hit?

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