Delay in start of production of Framework Laptop 13 Pro
As we were preparing the Framework Laptop 13 Pro for the mass production ramp, we discovered two issues, one on the new haptic touchpad and the other on the custom display. We have since found the root cause of both and found solutions. However, to bring these updates, we need to delay the start of mass production, which pushes the shipment of the first batch by about a month from late June to late July, with some risk of some units arriving in early August. This will likely push most of the July batch shipments to August. We are planning to meet our reported dates in August, but there is some risk in the final August batches moving into early September. We do not expect the restart of late manufacturing to be delayed beyond August. We don’t like to delay any products, but we want to make sure the Framework Laptop 13 Pro is as sturdy and reliable as possible. If the new shipment time no longer works for you, your pre-order deposit is fully refundable. We will continue to keep you updated as we finalize validation, begin production ramp, and begin shipping batches. In the meantime, we will begin to ship new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 mainboards on time to customers who have pre-ordered, as well as begin launching some modules that do not have a touchpad or display.
haptic touchpad production
At Haptic Touchpad, our aim from the beginning has been the perfection of the complete user experience. The initial reaction we see Our launch event and hands-on testing at Computex indicates that we are doing it right. This required tight integration and frequent iterations across mechanical, electrical and firmware designs. Particularly on firmware, we’ve gone through dozens of internal releases that fine-tune the haptic experience and force uniformity and resolve edge cases on touch and click behavior. Throughout development over the past year, we found and resolved a series of firmware bugs and nits to achieve full reliability.
Over the past few months, we have encountered a few spurious bugs that rarely trigger on some units, resulting in the touchpad resetting itself after repeated clicking. Working with our suppliers Lite-On and Boreas, we found an electrical issue in the PCB design around grounding that we believed was the root cause, and released a new PCB spin to manufacturing to resolve it. In parallel, we identified firmware changes that we believed would also mitigate the problem on the original PCB design. As we began to ramp up production with the original PCBs, we found that modules with firmware changes were still expressing failure modes, and at a higher rate than what we had seen during development manufacturing. Because of this, we are pausing production while waiting for new PCBs, which will be used for all shipments. We have collected the first samples of these and have determined that they will solve the problem. We are now completing full validation to ensure that no further regressions occur (this includes a series of tests such as 200,000 sequential clicks), and have already begun producing mass production quantities to accelerate the schedule. The new modules arrive from our haptic touchpad supplier to our final assembly factory in mid-July. We have started production of other sub-assemblies in the meantime, so we will be able to quickly assemble, test and output the laptop.
display output
Similar to the touchpad issue, as soon as we began mass production of the new display, we encountered a bug that resulted in the panel not initializing on one unit. Our performance supplier, CSOT Root, located the cause of the problem and found that it was an edge case related to some initialization parameters. We have worked with CSOT on an updated display firmware that is now entering production. We expect the manufacturing and delivery of the updated panel to fit within the schedule of the haptic touchpad module, so it won’t impact our laptop schedule. However, this affects pre-orders of the new displays, with shipments now starting in July instead of June.
mainboard shipment
Finally, as mentioned earlier, we will begin shipments of new Framework Laptop 13 Pro mainboards with Intel Core Ultra Series 3 on time in June. We typically begin shipping pre-orders when press reviews on a new product go live, so you can evaluate the review results and decide whether to continue with your pre-order. However, framework Laptop 13 Pro press reviews for the entire system will now take place in July. This means that for mainboards in the meantime, you’ll have to rely on general reviews of Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors as well as practical write-ups and videos that have gone live to date.
On the mainboard we have another update to address feedback we’ve received from pre-orderers regarding LPCAM2 memory availability. There are very few retail options for purchasing LPCAM2 to use with your mainboard, so if you want to adjust an existing mainboard pre-order to include the memory, you can do so Contact our support team And update. Note that if your mainboard is in the June batch, adding LPCAMM2 to the order now may cause a slight delay in shipment. In the future, we will implement a bundle that will allow mainboard pre-order customers to select memory with their mainboard pre-order.
We apologize for the delay in production of the Framework Laptop 13 Pro. The Pro aims to level up the performance, refinement, and robustness of the Framework Laptop 13, and we want to make sure the final product lives up to that. We will keep you updated as we move forward with the updated mass production program, and we look forward to fixing up consumer electronics with you.
framework team
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