Apple Suspends iPhone Production Due To Chip And Energy Crisis

The chip crisis and the lack of energy in China have meanwhile also reached Apple. According to a report from Asia, Apple and its suppliers had to temporarily suspend production of the current iPhone models – for the first time in more than 10 years.

According to a report by the Japanese economic service Nikkei Asia, Apple and its contract manufacturers suspended production of the iPhone for several days in early October. They used the nationwide vacation in China at that time to give their employees time off. However, this measure was not voluntary.

Employees Engaged

Instead, production was temporarily suspended because the supply of components had stalled and the Chinese government partially restricted the power supply. For Apple, this means that the company was not able to stock millions of devices from its latest product range for the Christmas business as usual, which is why interested customers have to be prepared for the fact that the iPhone 13 models will be poorly available shortly before Christmas.

Normally, the holidays at the beginning of October are the beginning of an important phase for Apple: Instead of letting the employees of suppliers and contract manufacturers travel to their families like practically the entire rest of the Chinese population, the Apple partners are ramping up production these days Level to have huge numbers of the latest iPhone models, mostly presented in September, built again for the Christmas business.

Unavailability of simple components spoil the Christmas season

In September and October 2021, due to the bottlenecks in certain components, up to 20 percent, fewer units of the current iPhones rolled off the assembly line than Apple had actually planned. The problems persisted despite a clear prioritization of production around the iPhone 13 and its sister models so that Apple was already willing to put the production of iPads and older iPhone models on the back burner.

In November the situation allegedly improved only insignificantly, so that Apple was only able to manufacture around 50 percent of the planned iPads and was still not able to bring the iPhone numbers to the actually intended level. In December the situation allegedly improved increasingly, but as with other manufacturers, there is still a lack of small, hardly cost-intensive, but urgently needed parts.

Above all, transceiver and power management chips are in short supply for Apple too and are holding up iPhone production, it is said. The delivery time for most iPhone models is now only around two weeks. However, if you want to buy an iPad, you have to wait until well into January 2022.