Apple iPhone delay looms
Global smartphone unit sales slumped by 20 per cent in the first quarter, according to a Gartner report this week, but Apple fared much better than Samsung and Huawei, with just an 8 per cent fall. The iPhone maker may not get off so lightly come the end of the year though.
Lockdowns, economic uncertainty and supply chain problems all contributed to the industry’s problems in the first three months, but “Apple’s ability to serve clients via its online stores and its production returning to near normal levels at the end of March helped,” said Gartner.
However, supply chain problems are continuing, according to one of its chip providers. Broadcom reported earnings on Thursday and chief executive Hock Tan talked about a “major product cycle delay in wireless”. Normal expectations of a big revenue uplift from wireless component sales in its current quarter to the end of July were now being shifted to the October quarter for “the ramp of next-generation phone at our large North American mobile phone customer”.
As Bloomberg translates, Hock Tan was referring to Apple, which normally unveils its next-generation iPhone in September, but Covid-19 disruption could push availability to customers back to October. Eric Ross, analyst at Cascend Securities, warned it was possible that general availability may not be till mid-October, and a delay to November would mean Apple needing to be very careful to have adequate supplies to meet holiday season demand.
The news is not good then for Apple’s December quarter and puts into context recent reports that Apple is looking to widen and diversify further its supply chain, moving some production to Vietnam and looking at alternatives to its Foxconn assembly partner.