Supplier says iPhone X’s dot projector no longer stuck in a production hell

For all the gloom and doom talk regarding Apple’s ability to fulfill expectedly high iPhone X demand, a supplier dismissed speculation that the dot projector is stuck in a production hell.

According to a report Tuesday from Nikkei Asian Review, Australian chip maker AWS claims that the phone’s dot projector component is no longer causing a production bottleneck.

AMS CEO Alexander Everke told analysts during today’s earnings call:

I am not nervous at all about. We see very strong performance in the fourth quarter. I see very strong performance in 2018.

AWS makes an optical sensing part for the TrueDepth camera used in iPhone X. Foxconn-controlled Sharp and LG Innotek are responsible for assembling the 3D sensor module.

Everke added that AWS had not received any negative feedback from its major customer, referring to Apple, about the component. This isn’t saying that the overall supply of iPhone X won’t be tight this year—quite the contrary.

In an earlier report today, Nikkei said that Apple will probably ship just 20 million iPhone X units in 2017, or around half the planned number. In the meantime, Apple’s boss Tim Cook wouldn’t comment on the latest supply chain reports.

When asked by BuzzFeed News to comment on those reports, he said that “we’ll see what happens,” adding that Apple will be “working as hard as possible to make as many as possible.”

Earlier this morning, Apple wrote in a media release that its stores should have the upcoming phone available for walk-in customers at launch, advising customers to arrive early.

To increase your chances of getting an iPhone X at launch, read Seb’s handy tips.

Apple will start taking preorders for iPhone X on Friday ahead of the November 3 launch.