Apple delays release of white iPhone again

Apple fans are going to have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on a white iPhone 4.

"We're sorry to disappoint customers waiting for the white iPhone yet again, but we've decided to delay its release until this spring," Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, said Wednesday.

Muller declined to give any reason for the latest delay.

Apple began selling black versions of the iPhone 4 in June and said the white model would be on the market in July.

In July, however, the gadget-maker said "white models of Apple's new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected" and would not be available until later in the year.

The release of the iPhone 4 has been particularly turbulent for Apple, featuring a sneak preview of the device on the Internet after it was obtained by technology blog Gizmodo and antenna issues.

Nevertheless, Apple described the iPhone 4 as its most successful product launch ever, with more than three million sold in the first three weeks after its debut.

Apple said last week that it sold 14.1 million iPhones during the latest quarter, up 91 percent from a year ago.