Apple cuts iPhone 13 production targets -- chip shortages

Bloomberg report

Apple Inc. is likely to slash its projected iPhone 13 production targets for 2021 by as many as 10 million units as prolonged chip shortages hit its flagship product, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The company had expected to produce 90 million new iPhone models in the last three months of the year, but it’s now telling manufacturing partners that the total will be lower because Broadcom Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. are struggling to deliver enough components, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Apple (AAPL) to Cut iPhone Production Targets Due to Chip Shortage - Bloomberg

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The chip shortages issue is hitting the semiconductor industry very hard. Almost any device that has microchip will face it soon or later. It started last year with gaming consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series S|X) are both not widely available after 1 year of launch.

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People in the electronics industry are buying training kits and scavenging parts from them like FPGA chips. Lead times on a lot of these chips is a year.

My sister ordered a car from her local dealer in Florida. She had to wait several months due to chip shortages – like many people have. When the car came in, the dealer demanded an additional $2,000 fee on top of the agreed purchase price – due to “inventory shortages”. I.e., price gouging due to the chip issue.

She walked away.

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That is the right thing to do. Sorry for her that she didn’t get the car after such a long wait time. But when they signed the deal, they knew there was shortage. Deal is deal, they wouldn’t have accepted for her to lower the price or move away after she signed. Not a dealer to work with anyways.

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She should contact her local consumer protection organization. I don’t think it is even legal to demand more after the agreement is signed! I can’t imagine that standing up in court!

She’s not out of pocket anything, and found another car at a reasonable price. So there’s no damage.

A new report from Nikkei Asia – Apple throttles iPad production to free up chips for iPhones. This sort of action is old hat in the manufacturing sector, but because :ghost: supply chain :ghost:, it’s become popular news this year.

TAIPEI – Apple has cut back sharply on iPad production to allocate more components to the iPhone 13, multiple sources told Nikkei Asia, a sign the global chip supply crunch is hitting the company even harder than it previously indicated.

Production of the iPad was down 50% from Apple’s original plans for the past two months, sources briefed on the matter said, adding that parts intended for older iPhones were also being moved to the iPhone 13. Apple trims iPad production to feed chips to iPhone 13 - Nikkei Asia

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