SPECTRUM NEXT DELAYS

Update #12 of the second Kickstarter campaign for the Spectrum Next brought a mix of welcome and unfortunate news for an anxious second wave of backers eager to get their hands on their own complete Spectrum Next system in 2021. Though the update contained some notable good news about the issue 2C motherboard revision that will populate the new run of Nexts, it also contained news on some expected delays that will take their arrival past the planned August shipping date. Both skeptics and optimists have commented on social media responses to the update that delays were not exactly unexpected, owing to both the extensive delays of the original production run and the inevitable complications of international production demands amid the worldwide COVID pandemic. Concept and campaign leader Henrique Olifiers confirmed that parts shortages of both popular and comparatively obsolete components that make up the modern/classic fusion of the Next board have presented themselves, echoing the delays of the first batch of systems between 2017 and 2020. Though this is no doubt compounded with the limited production of the past 18 months, the production team seem confident that the delays will not be as extensive and have quickly addressed supply issues to minimise delays. The good news however is that with close to 4000 initial backers in its initial run, the Spectrum Next proved without a doubt that it was a viable ‘new retro’ system that a lot of people wanted and with over 4000 new backers literally doubling the user base in this second run, the production team have made the wise decision to use the downtime in supply to make additional revisions to the motherboard design and assembly. The 2C board underwent a layout change early in this Kickstarter phase to address interference and efficiency issues that presented themselves in the 2B spec to ensure a smoother system delivery this time round, and the additional testing time gifted by the parts supply issues has allowed the team to further optimise the new board ahead of full production of the new systems.

Though expectant users are understandably anxious that a few months delay may become much longer, there’s little reason to see why the kind of delays experienced by the first Next owners will be a problem for anyone waiting in round 2. With assurances that

WiFi interference is being eliminated and power and signal efficiency are being improved whilst retaining functionality and fit inside the sleek Next case, backers should generally accept this delay and ultimately reap the benefits it brings.