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Apple exec promises the white iPhone 4 will finally go on sale this spring

Phil Schiller takes to Twitter to confirm that Apple's long-anticipated blanc model will be on the shelves soon, and perhaps unsurprisingly, he reckons the device is "a beauty".

Stuart Dredge
2 min read
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Still doubting that Apple will ever release its white iPhone 4? That means you're calling Phil Schiller a barefaced liar. Apple's SVP for worldwide product marketing has taken the unusual step (by his company's standards) of confirming the device's imminent launch on Twitter.

In a reply to a question about how people can get their hands on a white iPhone, Schiller tweeted this answer:

@airickanderson Hi Eric. The white iPhone will be available this spring (and it is a beauty!).less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhonePhilip Schiller
pschiller

No surprise that Schiller is using the Twitter app for iPhone. And it's equally unshocking that one of Apple's senior execs would say that the white iPhone is "a beauty". Until now, only a handful of people, plus those journalists that played with the device at its original unveiling in San Francisco last June, have seen the white iPhone 4 close up.

The month afterwards, Apple announced it was delaying the white modelafter finding that it was "more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected", leaving a gap to be filled lucratively by DIY kits that turned black iPhone 4s into white models.

People hanging on for the official white version were given crumbs of comfort earlier this year when the device showed up on the websites of operators, while online retailer Expansys even made it available for pre-order with a whopping SIM-free price tag of £920. We're assuming it'll be considerably cheaper when Apple starts selling it in the spring, though.

Schiller's tweet backs up last week's claim by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that Apple had finally solved the production issues around daubing iPhones a whiter shade of pale. Kuo said the white iPhone 4 would be going into full production this month, which would back up a spring release for the device.

Wondering why you'd want to buy a white iPhone 4 in the spring, when there'll almost certainly be a white iPhone 5 going on sale in the summer? Well, the iPhone 4 is unlikely to be killed off as soon as the new model comes out -- if Apple follows its strategy from previous years, the older device will have a price cut and a new lease of life.