Over one year ago rumors surfaced that Apple was working on its own wrist-based computing device. Dubbed the “iWatch” by industry watchers, the device was expected to launch before the end of 2013.

We know now that this did not happen. Apple’s big iPhone 5S announcement contained plenty of product reveals, but none of them were smart watches of any sort.

In the meantime other technology manufacturers have released their own smart watches. Despite lukewarm reviews some of the devices, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, have proved to be moderately successful. This, combined with analyst predictions that smart watch software will significantly improve in the coming months, means that Apple will, for once, be entering into a crowded market rather than pioneering it.

It seems, though, that Apple may still enter the field. Reports from Taiwan in January indicated that the device’s delay could be due to manufacturing yield difficulties. Now a new report is predicting that the iWatch could arrive before the end of summer.

A DigiTimes report today quotes a story in China’s Economic Daily News as stating that the iWatch will arrive sometime during the third quarter of 2014. The report also attributes an ambitions sales goal to Apple, which is expected to ship 65 million of the smart watches before the end of the year. To meet these lofty expectations, Apple is reportedly pressuring manufacturers to deliver components by August.

A few new details about the manufacturing of the iWatch were also contained in the report. Apple is reportedly using Quanta Computer to manufacture its new smart watch and collaborating with Richtek to design the chip for the device. The touch display for the iWatch is also rumored to be coming from TPK while Samsung will reportedly be used to manufacture the device’s processor.

With the iWatch now all but confirmed, Apple fans can rest easy knowing that the company’s design philosophy will soon put pressure on the bland smart watch category. As for the other heavily-rumored new Apple product, it seems that “iTV” has been pushed back yet again due to difficulties dealing with content providers.

Image via Samsung