Although Apple claimed that it is catching up to its supply chain woes, a supply chain report claims that it continues to prioritize iPhone production over the iPad. This has caused delivery lead times for the iPad to slip past the two-month mark.

Nikkei Asia reports that Apple has an average nine-week lead time for customers purchasing an iPad. The lead time was ascertained by tracking delivery times for Apple products since November 2021 in 25 markets, including China, the US, and Japan. The report adds that delivery lead times have improved from 55 days in December to 50 days for the 64GB model of the iPad.

During the recently held Q1 2022 earnings call, Apple CFO Luca Maestri noted that supply chain difficulties withheld the company from achieving $130 billion in revenue — $6 billion more than what it earned. He added that the iPad bore the brunt of the supply chain difficulties. Cook attributed the 14 percent decline in the iPad’s revenue contribution to “legacy nodes.” He said the company expects a lower yet “significant” headwind from supply chain difficulties in the current quarter.

Research firm CCS Insight’s senior director of research Wayne Lam explains that the iPad requires several display drivers for its 8-inch screen. The drivers are produced at legacy nodes that are the most adversely impacted by the semiconductor shortage.

Our Take

Apple first allocated some of the iPad’s production resources to the iPhone 13 ahead of a spike in demand due to the holiday season. It is likely the company has still not redirected the resources in a bid to catch up to the high demand for the new iPhones.

Do you think Apple’s plans for an updated iPad Air launch in March or April would be foiled by these supply chain difficulties? Tell us in the comments.