” If the iPhone 6 doesn’t ship with a sapphire glass display, it won’t be because of a materials shortage; it’ll be because Apple chose to stick with the same glass it’s been using on previous iPhone models,” Jeff Gamet reports for The Mac Observer. “Apple teamed with GT Advanced Technology to produce the synthetic sapphire it needs — and not only has the company been ramping up production in a serious way, it also has a hoard of sapphire it already made stashed away.”
“GTAT has been racking up a lot of deferred revenue over the past several quarters with about $154 million that looks to be unaccounted for unless it’s sapphire the company has been sitting on. In other words, GTAT has been hoarding sapphire for about two years to make sure there’s enough to meet Apple’s needs,” Gamet reports. “Forbes reports PTT Research analyst Matt Margolis saying, ‘What this means is GT is already sitting on enough sapphire to satisfy Apple’s needs for the iPhone 6 launch in September. This deal was in the making for 2 years. They’ve been preparing this for quite some time.'”
Gamet reports, “With the stashed inventory, plus its current production, GTAT should be able to meet Apple’s needs.”
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