A defect found in some iPhone 5 display panels may result in short supply next month, suggesting that Apple’s iPhone launch may once again be marred by angry customers unable to get their hands on Apple’s latest and greatest. DigiTimes reported on Friday that Apple display supplier Wintek has identified a defect called a “delayed bubble” in some display panels may affect its ability to meet Apple’s supply demands. Read on for more.

The defect described involves a bubble that appears between the panel and the lamination layer only after the displays are sent out for assembly. Wintek would not confirm or deny the report when contacted by DigiTimes for comment, though it did state that all of its products are being delivered on schedule. According to the report, Apple’s fourth-quarter shipment goal for the iPhone 5 is in the 25-26 million unit range. Wintek is estimated to be supplying between 20% and 25% of the display panels used in Apple’s iPhone 5.

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Apple will unveil two new iPhone models within the next few weeks, a low-cost iPhone 4 with design tweaks and a brand new iPhone 5. The news has been repeated ad nauseam, however this time around, 9to5Mac brings with it a new twist: the latter and more highly anticipated of the two models may be facing production issues. An iPhone 5 with a new teardrop design and a larger display is seeing production delays on at least one assembly line according to the report. As a result, 9to5Mac speculates that the the new iPhone 5 “will be delayed slightly at the very least and may see shortages all the way into 2012.” Apple’s new cheaper iPhone 4 will apparently be ready to rock in the coming weeks, however. The reports states that Apple will have over 10 million units on hand for launch, and the phones will be priced aggressively. Both the iPhone 5 and the new iPhone 4 are still scheduled to launch on October 7th, the report claims, aligning with earlier rumors.

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Following first-quarter earnings that sent investors and the media into a tizzy, analyst coverage of RIM has been fairly monotone. The consensus? The company is doomed. Sure, there’s been an odd half-hearted vote of confidence here and there, but the majority of analyst coverage we’ve seen has been negative and investors are exiting en masse. In a 45-page report published last Tuesday, however, analysts at Macquarie Capital Markets paint a different picture of RIM’s business. Despite product delays and declining market share, the firm issued an Outperform rating and set a 12-month target on shares of RIM stock at $40. Read on to find out why.

Macquarie writes that while RIM took a beating in the key North American market last quarter, the company’s international performance in the fiscal first quarter grew 86% from the same quarter a year earlier. The firm sees continued success for RIM in several markets, citing a variety of advantages including lower handset costs and subsidies for BlackBerry devices versus the competition, a reluctance to push the iPhone in numerous markets for fear of cannibalizing texting revenue, and even spectrum and network capacity restraints at international carriers that spur the need for devices with minimal data consumption — an area where BlackBerry phones shine.

“Buyside and sellside capitulation creates an opportunity for long-term value investors to own a high quality tech name at a compelling valuation,” Macquarie’s report reads. It continues, “We believe comparisons to Nokia or Nortel are unfounded. Device revenue outside of North America should grow 81% y/y in Q2, led by Indonesia, Thailand and Latin America. We expect, even with international device revenue slowing to just 3.6% in F13, which could prove overly bearish, services growth will continue. The company should exit the year with $3.4bln of cash (after buyback) and no debt, despite the shortfall in earnings.”

Macquarie sees RIM’s enterprise business and the company’s growth in international markets as having the potential to carry the company forward for longer than other firms expect. ”RIM’s numerous challenges have been well documented in recent downgrades, earnings reports and press articles: delayed product launches, insufficient and misallocated R&D, poor management reaction to changing industry trends, subpar communication with investors, strengthening competition, falling ASPs, and ineffective CEO and Board structure ring the loudest,” Macquarie’s report notes. “We view these risks, both self-inflicted and structural, as formidable but not yet insurmountable. We believe that RIM’s international business and its software and services segments have a longer tail than many shareholders expect and that current share prices already imply negative value for the US device and tablet businesses.”

With 12.9% of the global smartphone market last quarter according to Gartner, RIM is still the No. 3 smartphone vendor in the world behind Nokia (25.5%) and Apple (16.8%). RIM is also the No. 3 smartphone vendor in North America behind Apple (27.1%) and HTC (18.6%), though the firm’s share has plummeted from 41.3% in the first quarter of 2010 to 16.5% last quarter.

Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion has begun laying off workers according to a report from a local newspaper on Tuesday. The Waterloo Region Record reports RIM has already begun reducing its staff, though there is no word on how many employees have been let go at this point. Last week, RIM reported a weak first quarter and poor fiscal 2012 guidance that sent investors running for the door. RIM’s Co-CEOs also confirmed on an earnings call that the company would be reducing its workforce, though no time frame was provided, and that the launches of several upcoming BlackBerry devices have been delayed. Shares of RIM stock have fallen more than 25% since the company reported its earnings last week, and it is down more than 50% so far this year.

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Several companies have reportedly decided to postpone tablet launches as a result of concerns over the state of the industry and possible component shortages due to the recent earthquakes in Japan. DigiTimes cites anonymous industry sources in reporting that ASUS will delay the release of its Eee Pad Transformer tablet. The report also claims that HTC will push back the date it had previously set for volume production of its Flyer tablet, though it will supposedly still launch the device in the second quarter. DigiTimes also states that XOOM sales are failing to meet expectations, though we don’t think sales have been terrible so far and we also don’t recall Motorola ever having revealed any targets or estimates. In response to the report, HTC said its tablet roadmap had not changed, though the company did not reveal any details regarding launch timing.

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According to two independent notes issued on Tuesday, both of Apple’s flagship iOS products for 2011 may be delayed. First, FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger claims that the next-generation iPhone may be delayed until September. “For the iPhone 5, we continue to hear that a July launch is unlikely, with various casing suppliers and touch suppliers still ramping up, with some chip vendors not having yet received firm iPhone 5 orders, and with other sockets like the image sensor (most likely going to Omnivision exclusively, but with some potential for Sony to split that socket) still in flux,” Berger wrote in a note to investors. “Given these factors, we think a September launch is more likely, off from Apple’s traditional iPhone launch schedule, but giving the firm more time to enhance its next-generation instant communications on the phone.” Berger also claims that Apple intends to build 100 million iPhone handsets during the 2011 calendar year, up from FBC’s previous estimate of 75 million.

Separately, Yuanta Securities Co. on Tuesday issued a research note suggesting Apple’s next-generation iPad, which it claims was slated for an April release, may be delayed until June. Yuanta analysts Vincent Chen and Alison Chen report that production bottlenecks caused by last minute design changes from Apple are the cause of the delay. “Our checks suggest new issues are being encountered with the new production and it is taking time to resolve them,” wrote Chen and Chen in their report. “As a number of Android 3.0 tablets are being launched in April and May, the delay in iPad 2 shipments may give the Android camp a brief window of opportunity.”

Neither report carries any firm evidence to support the claimed delays.

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If you’re a member of our Canadian readership, and anxious to join the Galaxy S legion, listen up. Rogers has just announced that after several ”manufacturer delays” they have received their first shipment of Samsung Captivate smartphones. Paul Brannen, vice president of Samsung Electronics Canada, had this to say:

Due to a worldwide shortage in Super AMOLED technology screens, we regret that Samsung was unable to deliver the Galaxy S Captivate to Rogers in time for the scheduled launch. The continued shortage has resulted in repeated delays. We know this is a widely anticipated device and apologize to Rogers customers. We’re pleased to say that we have begun shipping the device to Rogers, though shipments will be limited over the next few weeks.

Existing Rogers customers that “fulfill hardware upgrade eligibility requirements” can snag the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate for a cool $149.99 — “with select three-year term voice and data plans” — until November 2; everyone else can pick one up for $179.99 with a 3-year cellular-jail sentence. There you have it Canadian friends, enjoy!

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Oh, dear. Those crazy iPhone fans really did go mental pre-orders, because Apple has pushed back the ship by date for the iPhone 4 for the second time in under 18 hours. Instead of a ship by date of July 2nd, all orders placed from this point on are not scheduled to ship until the 14th of July. That’s 20 days after launch. If Apple sold 600,000 iPhones yesterday alone, we cannot wait to see what the final day one figure turns out to be when all is said and done.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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If you were wondering whether or not dealing with cellular carriers really is the nightmare many make it out to be, ask Garmin. The navigation expert did a fantastic job of straying from its safety zone and building a good amount of hype surrounding its upcoming virgin entry into the handset game. No the handset itself isn’t revolutionary per se, but it will run Garmin’s own OS and it will surely provide one of the best mobile navigation experiences available; once it’s released that is. Initially intended to come to market in the second half of this year, Garmin has announced it will delay Nuvifone’s release until some time in 1H 2009. In a statement from Garmin, the company say it “found that meeting some of the carrier specific requirements will take longer than anticipated.” Now there’s an understatement if we’ve ever seen one. There is no word as to the specific requirements Garmin is having difficulties with meeting, nor is there any indication as to when it expects to have these issues resolved. Here’s to hoping that Garmin can sort its carrier issues sooner rather than later so we can get our hands on this 3.5 inch screen-sporting, HSDPA-rocking navigator ASAP.

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