Apple halts production of 27-inch iMac, issues firmware update

2 Feb 2010

Apple has been forced to halt production of its 27-inch iMac computer because of flickering displays and reports of yellowing panels. It has issued a new firmware update to tackle the flickering.

Apple has apparently halted production of the 27-inch iMac and production will not resume until Apple has found a reliable and definitive fix for existing machines understood to be plagued by flickering displays and new issues affected by yellowing panels, according to reports.

Other reports say Apple has produced a document telling users affected by the problems that they will be contacted within three weeks to arrange an LCD panel replacement.

Apple yesterday released a new firmware update, a 294k file that the company says will tackle “intermittent display flickering.”

The update requires Mac OS X 10 6.2 or later applies to all 27-inch models. It comes more than a month after Apple issued the 27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0.

Apple is understood to have stated that the current three-week delay on shipments of its 27-inch iMacs has been due to demand.

By John Kennedy

Photo: Apple will reportedly not resume production on 27-inch Macs until the company has found a reliable and definitive fix for flickering displays and issues affected by yellowing panels

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com