Apple Suppliers Dismiss Report of iPhone 13 Order Cuts Due to Chip Shortage

BEIJING, October 13 (TMTPOST)—Apple hasn’t scaled down orders for iPhone 13 lineup so far this year, DigiTimes, a Taiwan-based newspaper focusing on semiconductor and other technology industries, cited component suppliers of the tech giant’s latest flagship smartphone models on Wednesday.

The suppliers’ response came after Bloomberg reported Apple was preparing to slash the production of iPhone 13 this year and expected the adjusted production target would be as many as 1,000 units less than the previous plan. The report, quoted people familiar with the matter, blamed the output cut for the prolonged global chip shortage resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, since not just chips and OLED displays, other ihone13 parts are also in short supply. It noted the severe challenges Apple’s two major chip suppliers-- Texas Instruments and Broadcom are facing, as the former only produces a fraction of chips by itself and most of products from outsourcing and the latter’s chip production completely relies on OEM partners including TSMC. Major chip makers warned the demand could continue to outpace the supply next year or even beyond.

Two Taiwan-based iPhone manufactures Foxconn and Pegatron declined to comment on the report. However, sources of iPhone supply chain told the local newspaper Economic Daily News that “orders at the moment haven’t had any major change given the shipment forecast provided by Apple”, and the assemblers are working as scheduled.  

While the report of order reduction may be incorrect, Apple did confront challenges owing to the supply chain disruptions intensified amid the pandemic.  Earlier this month, Digitimes’ sources said Apple has cut back chip orders of older iPhone models while acquiring more chips for iPhone 13 models. Last week, Nikkei Asia reported suppliers in China were struggling for keeping up with production under the threat of increasingly frequent power outages. New products Apple released recently are suffering long delivery times. Customers have to wait a couple of weeks or as long as a month to pick up the iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max they now order online. 

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