Apple Warns Suppliers Of Deteriorating Demand For iPhone 13

Apple apparently has a problem with falling demand and the availability of components for its latest smartphone series, the iPhone 13. The US group has therefore now warned its suppliers that sales are likely to stall in 2022.

As early as October there were first reports that Apple had reduced the production targets for its current iPhones to “only” around 80 million units. This was initially around 10 million units less than previously planned, it was said at the time. Now, however, Apple is said to have warned its suppliers that the numbers planned for this generation of models will no longer be achieved as previously forecast.

The reasons for this are, on the one hand, the poor availability of the chips built into the devices of the iPhone 13 series, which is why Apple has already started to reduce iPad production in order to have more components available for its high-end smartphones. At the same time, demand from network operators and other potential sales partners is expected to be lower than initially expected.

Partners create problems

Various Apple partners recently decided not to sell the iPhone 13 and its sister models in the usual quantities, also because they assume that the next generation, the iPhone 14, will be a major upgrade with a new design.

Despite the lower demand for the iPhone 13 and the poor availability of the components, analysts assume that Apple will record around six percent higher unit numbers in the last three months of 2021. However, this is said to be due to an overall slightly positive development in the smartphone market compared to 2020, which can be attributed to the lower impact of the coronavirus pandemic.