Apple Expects iPhone and iPad Supply Constraints in Q3 2021

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 28 Jul 2021

iPhone 13 mini concept

Apple has so far been somewhat immune to the ongoing semiconductor shortage that has seen almost all other smartphone OEMs struggle. However, the company now expects supply constraints to affect the iPhone and iPad starting from the third quarter of 2021.

Apple already saw some supply constraints in the June quarter, but it expects the constraints to be even worse in September, as Apple CFO Luca Maestri revealed. It is unclear if the supply issues will affect the iPhone 13 series or other older Apple products. It is also unclear if the supply constraints will affect the holiday season or not.

Below is what Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said on the semiconductor shortage:

The majority of the constraints are of the variety that others are seeing. I would classify it as industry shortage. We do have some shortages in addition to that where the demand has been so great and so beyond our own expectation that it’s difficult to get the entire set of parts within the lead times that we try to get those. It’s a little bit of that as well. As I said before, the latest nodes, which we use in several of our products, have not been as much of an issue. The legacy nodes are where the supply constraints have been, on silicon.

There is a massive semiconductor shortage across the industry. The issue also affects car manufacturers, who have had to cut down on production or even shut down their factories temporarily due to the semiconductor shortage. Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone OEM, has been badly hit with the semiconductor shortage, with many of its mid-range products being unavailable due to this.

Apple so far managed to avoid the semiconductor shortage, but it looks like the supply constraints have finally caught up to the company.

[Via MacRumors]