Report: Delayed by manufacturing errors, white iPhone 4 set for release this spring

Like many technology companies, Apple's engineers design all of its products, but the manufacturing is outsourced to cut back on costs and boost efficiency. Foxconn, which according to reports is looking to expand into South America from its base in Asia, handles a majority of Apple's production.

Foxconn has come under fire over the past year for what analysts and workers' rights group assert are gross violations in labor conditions at its factories. According to a recently released report, Apple has tried for more than a year to put out a white version of its iPhone 4, but manufacturing errors have caused delays and prevented the white iPhone from hitting the markets.

Nonetheless, a white iPhone 4 could be on the way, according to sources. Bloomberg reports that Apple will begin selling a white version of its popular smartphone within the next four weeks - after 10 months worth of delays.

The white iPhone has long been a hot seller, but Apple's latest version of the phone has only been available in a standard color since it hit store shelves in June 2010. Unlike past models of the smartphone that were available in both white and black, reports have swirled over the past year that the white models were delayed because of manufacturing errors.

According to sources with knowledge of Apple's manufacturing, the new white iPhone 4 will be available through both major carriers of the smartphone, AT&T and Verizon, and will go on sale by the end of April. The release of the white phone was stalled because of supplier disruptions and as a result of the white paint peeling when it came under hot conditions, a source affirmed.

Industry watchers contend that Apple is unlikely to unveil a new version of its flagship smartphone offering this June. If that is true, it would break with the strategy Apple has employed since it launched the iPhone in 2007, which was bringing a new version to the market every June. The white model could help spur demand for the iPhone 4, the company's latest version, until a new model is unveiled - likely in September, RBC Capital Markets analysts Mike Abramsky asserts.

When it launched the iPhone 4, Apple said that the white version was delayed because of manufacturing troubles. Apple's notoriously tight-lipped staff has also helped fuel the rumor mill that the new white iPhone will soon hit shelves. Last month, Apple's senior vice president of marketing, Phil Schiller, took to Twitter to tell his followers a white model would be available for sale by spring.