Apple has said for months that its white iPhone will be available in the spring, but with the white iPad 2 on shelves but no white iPhone in sight, some have questioned whether Apple has ditched the idea of a white iPhone altogether.
Now a top Apple executive has weighed in on the debate - via Twitter, no less. Phil Schiller, senior vice president for worldwide marketing at Apple, tweeted this afternoon that the white iPhone will indeed be available soon, in all its glory.
"Hi Eric. The white iPhone will be available this spring (and it is a beauty!)," Schiller said in response to a follower's question about where he could get the white iPhone.
Schiller had few other details to offer about when exactly we'll see a white iPhone and on what version of the popular smartphone the color will appear. Apple typically introduces new iPhones in June (the iPhone 4 made its debut on June 7, 2010); spring runs until June 21 this year, so technically, Apple could introduce a new iPhone in early June and still be in its spring timeframe.
The white iPhone has been troubled since the start. When Apple announced the iPhone 4, it said the device would be available in black and white models. By month's end, however, Apple issued a statement that said the white models "have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected." At the time, Apple promised to release them by the second half of July, but by the time July 23 rolled around, Apple said the white iPhone would not actually be available until the end of the year.
In October, however, Apple said the white iPhone had been delayed until spring. People got riled up about the device again in December when some Apple Store placards that say the white smartphone would hit stores in spring 2011, but that was nothing new.
When Verizon announced its version of the iPhone in February, some speculated that a white iPhone might also be included in the mix, but to no avail. Apple instead surprised everyone by unveiling a white iPad 2 - and actually delivering it to stores.
As PCMag audio analyst Tim Gideon wrote recently, one of the most widely believed, if completely unconfirmed, rumors about the white iPhone 4 is that the white back panel reflected too much light from the LED flash, resulting in overexposed images. The back of the white iPad 2, however, is brushed aluminum.
"So, if we ever do see a white iPhone, it will likely need a bit of an overhaul, with an aluminum back panel and only a white frame around the screen, a la the iPad 2," Gideon wrote.
If that's the case, a white iPhone 5 makes the most sense, but we'll have to wait until spring to actually find out.