The smartphone market lives in conditions of a shortage of chips and components, it is customary to blame the pandemic for this. Chipmakers cannot keep up with the growth of orders, many processors are sold straight from the production lines and there is a long line behind them.
It seemed that all this hysteria with a lack of components did not affect Apple in any way, because it showed foresight and placed orders for chips and other components for the release of its devices before anyone else. Rumor has it that TSMC conveyors are working at full capacity, just to satisfy the order of Apple, while other manufacturers are still waiting for their turn.
But it turned out that the deficit of components reached Cupertino, it could not buy everything for the future. Industry sources report that Apple has almost halved its iPad production, all in order to save on components that will go to the iPhone 13 series. The company wants to ramp up production of smartphones, which are in high demand. Whereas the iPad is not so popular among users.
Those who decide to order an iPad now will have to wait until at least mid-December. Experts do not exclude the possibility that the waiting period may increase in the future. Analysts said the global chip shortage could continue in the next year, so buyers will have to get used to long shipping times for Apple and other tech giants’ products.
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iPad production has been cut in half for this reason
Earlier, Tim Cook said that limited supply of components due to production problems and delays in the supply chain; already cost the company $ 6 billion in lost revenue in the third quarter of this year. Despite all the problems, Apple hopes that it will still manage to sell the record number of iPhones and is urging to order in advance ahead of the Christmas season.
At the last quarterly conference, Apple executives did not hide that the shortage of components in the third calendar quarter could put the company to realize the planned number of smartphones. The start of sales of the iPhone 13 series showed that customer waiting times are reaching all-time highs. More and more experts are urging investors to prepare for a decrease in the supply of Apple smartphones.
The fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2021 has already ended on the company’s calendar; and now the first quarter of the next fiscal year has arrived. As noted by Reuters, over the past two weeks; two representatives of the analytical community have reduced their forecast for Apple’s revenue and the number of iPhones shipped. In the current fiscal quarter, according to JP Morgan, Apple will gain from the sale of smartphones no more than $ 63 million. In annual comparison, this will correspond to a decrease of 4%.
