“It was challenging,” Mr. Schiller said in an interview with AllThingsD. “It’s not as simple as making something white. There’s a lot more that goes into both the material science of it–how it holds up over time…but also in how it all works with the sensors.”
“A lot more” includes the reality that the color of the casing affects the way sensors in the device function, and the case color also affects other internal components on the device. Apple also apparently found that white iPhones need more UV protection than the black version of the device.
Figuring out how to do this the right way takes time, even for a company with Apple’s resources. Mr. Schiller said, “We thought we were there a year ago, or less than that, when we launched the iPhone 4, and we weren’t.”
They are now, however, and if you’ve been holding out all this time for a white iPhone, you can get them at an Apple Store starting tomorrow.
The White iPhone 4!