With this year’s pandemic-ridden holiday shopping season almost upon us, rumor has it that consumer demand for Apple’s latest iPhone 13 lineup is slowing.
HIGHLIGHTS
- iPhone 13 isn’t as hard to get as it once was
- Wait times are now down to two weeks or less
- Demand, however, is starting to decelerate
- For some, iPhone 13 newness has worn off
iPhone 13 supply improving but demand falling
Apple has told some of its suppliers to brace themselves for a drop in orders concerning iPhone 13 components amid the current COVID-19 Omicron fears. Bloomberg News reports that the Cupertino company has informed suppliers that it doesn’t anticipate this trend to revert during the upcoming holiday shopping season.
Already, Apple had cut its iPhone 13 production goal for this year by as many as 10 million units, down from a target of 90 million, because of a lack of parts, Bloomberg News reported. But the hope was to make up much of that shortfall next year—when supply is expected to improve. The company is now informing its vendors that those orders may not materialize, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Apple’s boss Tim Cook warned in an earnings call that current problems plaguing Asian component makers will continue to chip away from Apple’s sales, with current supply constraints already costing the company a whopping $6 billion in lost income.
Why Apple can’t get enough iPhone 13 parts
The global chip shortage coupled with the current supply crunch means Apple cannot procure enough parts to produce the latest iPhone in sufficient quantities. At the same time, sales of any new iPhone model peak during its first few weeks of availability. The iPhone 13 models became available on September 24, nearly two and a half months ago.
That’s a long time in the technology world so small wonder that some people who would have otherwise purchased an iPhone 13 were it available back then have now changed their mind. Call those people early adopters or whatever you want, but they are unlikely to purchase a new iPhone 13 because they’re already thinking about the next model.
Will you skip iPhone 13 and wait to upgrade in 2022?
Some of those people skipped the current lineup altogether because it’s a modest upgrade from iPhone 12 and the design hasn’t changed much. Bigger changes, both in terms of the looks and the internals, are expected for the iPhone 14 models planned for 2022. Read: How to turn on the battery percentage indicator on the iPhone 13 models
Apple has been coping with supply-chain issues since 2020 so this is nothing new. In a way, Sony is in a similar situation where it’s unable to fulfill the demand for its PlayStation 5 console which went on sale two years ago on November 12.
The situation around iPhone 13 supply has improved recently with new orders for the ‌iPhone 13‌ and iPhone 13 Pro models now shipping in time for Christmas. Before, wait times for the iPhone 13 models stood at around a month.