When Apple launched its iPhone 4 earlier this summer, the phone was supposed to be available in both black and white variants. Black models started shipping right away, while there was supposed to be a slight delay for the white models.

As time went on, however, Apple began to waver a bit when it came to a definite shipping time for the white iPhone. In late July, the company issued the following statement:

White models of Apple's new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

Now it appears that the white iPhone 4 is going to be delayed even further -- until Spring 2011. John Paczkowski of the Wall Street Journal's Digital Daily says that he received official confirmation from Apple about the prolonged delay.

There has been plenty of speculation as to why the white iPhone has been delayed, but the general consensus is that Apple (actually, Steve Jobs) is so obsessed with perfection that the paint thickness/color matching on the white iPhone 4 has not been up to par. Specifically, Apple manufacturing partners are having problems matching the specific shade of white on the front of the phone with the white Home button according to Pocket-lint.

However, the question remains, will people even care anymore by the time Spring 2011 rolls around? Everyone who wanted an iPhone 4 is likely to have one by that point and the inevitable iPhone 5/iPhone 4G will be right around the corner.