Different reports published by the United States media indicate that Apple has had to limit the manufacture of iPhone 13, its latest product, because it does not get enough chips.
That’s right, the chip shortage affecting several industries, not just smartphones, is forcing the Cupertino brand to cut the manufacturing target by 11 percent.
According The Verge and Bloomberg, Apple is unable to source enough high-tech parts to meet its planned manufacturing target of 90 million iPhones-13 in the last four months of 2021.
Now, that number has dropped to 80 million due to supply problems at the Broadcom and Texas Instruments plants, where they cannot get the chips they need to complete manufacturing.
While there are no problems with the SoC-A15 Bionic, a key part of the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro and manufactured in Taiwan by the giant TSMC, there are many other components that also include chips inside the phone that arrive from other sources.
While Apple’s logistics department is working hard to coordinate manufacturing and delivery, the global shortage is serious and affects everyone.
Thus, even though the Marketing and Sales sectors have planned deliveries for 90 million, everything indicates that it will no longer be possible.
Texas Instruments and Broadcom are responsible for several key components of the iPhone 13, such as the chips that manage screen power, the Face ID laser matrix, USB connectivity and wireless power.
Apple CEO Tim Cook had already warned in the latest earnings report that there could be chip supply problems. On that occasion, he pointed out that “everything possible would be done to mitigate any circumstance.”
But it seems that even with Apple’s best efforts and the more than oiled relationships it has with vendors, they simply couldn’t get the components it needs to make enough iPhones.
Although Apple is likely to be able to increase production (if the chips appear), the cut in manufacturing estimates means that it will most likely be very difficult to find an iPhone 13, something that was already difficult these weeks.