Shipping times for the 21.5-in iMac had slipped to 2-3 weeks back in January, and 27-in iMac supplies have been tight ever since its November debut, but shipping times improved over the weekend, with both models showing shipping times of 1 – 3 days from Apple’s online store.
The supply shortage has been attributed to issues with display production resulting from a new lamination process.
On Apple’s recent financial call, Tim Cook had mentioned that the iMac supply issues in the fourth quarter had impacted sales results. He noted supplies should increase during Q1 2013.
The new iMac is substantially thinner than previous models. The new lamination process results in greatly improved optical quality and has an anti-reflective coating.
One side note, MacRumors forum members do note that changing the base configuration of the computer will result in estimated shipping times of 2 -3 weeks.
