'iPhone 5 is so easily scratched we just can't get them out the door'

Foxconn boss Terry Gou has said that the iPhone 5 is tricky to make and that he is shipping out "far fewer" than Apple has asked for.

Gou, boss of Hon Hai, parent company of Foxconn, said he was struggling to keep up with orders for the iPhone 5, in remarks at a local economic forum reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Market demand is very strong, but we just can't really fulfill Apple's requests.

Gou said that the delay was because the latest iPhone was hard to make, but wouldn't explain which part in particular was causing the problem. It's been previously suggested that a lot of iPhone 5s get turned back by quality control inspectors, perhaps because they get visibly scratched during assembly.

The complicated ultra-thin screen that embeds capacitive touch sensors in between pixels is one reason that has been given before for the difficulty of manufacturing the iPhone 5, and the newly buffed slate-coloured back is cited as another.

Apple's sales for the iPhone 5 have not been reported since the Apple announced sales of 5 million after the device's opening weekend.

It's not the first time we've heard the line that iPhone sales have been held back because it's so innovative - see this report from October. ®