Still can’t find a new iMac? It may be a while, says Apple

If you've been in the market for a new iMac but haven't been able to buy a new one due to recent shortages, you may be waiting for a while. Apple expects supply of its new, thinner iMacs to remain tight throughout the next quarter, though it may not be as it was over the holiday season. Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed the constraints during Apple's first quarter earnings call on Wednesday, pointing out that while Apple plans to boost iMac production this quarter, there may still be more demand than supply until later in the year.

Apple only introduced the new iMacs during an event in October 2012, with the 21.5" version (read our review) becoming available at the very end of November. The 27" version of the iMac (read our other review) began shipping to some customers in mid-December, though numerous Ars readers have reported to us that they still ran into some trouble finding one of the new machines throughout the month.

Throughout Wednesday's call, Cook mentioned Apple's iMac supply problems during the December quarter. "We left the quarter with significant constraints on the iMac," he said. For the current quarter ending in March, he added, "We'll significantly increase supply, but demand is very strong and we're not certain we'll achieve a balance this quarter."

As we highlighted yesterday after the call, Cook had numerous other remarks to make about Mac sales, which surprised some Apple-watchers due to a decline in year-over-year sales. The company sold 4.1 million Macs during the quarter, down from 5.2 million a year ago, but pointed out that the aforementioned iMac constraints affected the numbers in noticeable ways. In addition to the 13-week quarter (compared to last year's 14-week quarter) affecting overall Mac sales numbers, iMacs were down by 700,000 units year over year, though it sounds as if the company is confident sales will increase once it's able to achieve supply/demand balance.

"We know sales would have been materially higher if those constraints did not exist," Cook said of the limited iMac launch.