X

Wait time for 21.5-inch iMac now up to three weeks

The ship time for the smaller iMac has increased to two to three weeks from the 7-to-10 business days Apple has advised for more than a month.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET

Consumers who buy the 21.5 inch iMac will now have to wait up to three weeks before it arrives on their doorstep.

For more than a month, the ship time had been a "mere" 7 to 10 business days for the U.S. and several other countries. As of yesterday, the new estimate of two to three weeks is now the norm in Apple online stores around the world, including the U.S., U.K., China, and Japan.

Until now, the 27-inch iMac had been the problem child, with ever-rising wait times. Available for preorders in October, the 27-incher was initially given a ship time of two to three weeks. But that jumped to three to four weeks after just a few hours.

In early December, Apple revised the forecast for the 27-inch model to a vague timeframe of January but then revised it back up to three to four weeks earlier this month.

At Apple's fourth-quarter earnings call last October, CEO Tim Cook warned that supplies of the iMac would be "constrained" the rest of the year, leading to a "signficant shortage." And now that shortage is affecting both models on into 2013.

Tomorrow Apple reveals its December quarter results, and is likely to address the iMac shortage then.

(Via 9to5Mac)

Watch this: New 21.5-inch iMac faces stiff Windows competition