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Apple is facing a severe shortage of vital power management chips for the iPhone 12, as well as other devices, according to Bloomberg.

apple-factory.jpg


Bloomberg notes that power management is particularly important for the iPhone 12 due to its additional camera features and 5G capabilities. Apple has multiple power management chip suppliers, as revealed by a recent teardown from iFixit.

The iPhone 12 Pro uses a power management chip for the camera system from Texas Instruments, and an equivalent chip from STMicroelectronics and Qualcomm for the 5G modem, in addition to a power management chip designed by Apple itself.

The shortage of power management chips is reportedly causing a bottleneck in Apple's already frustrated supply situation, further complicating its ability to meet holiday demand.

Apple is now facing supply constraints across multiple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, leading to long wait times for orders. At the end of last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors that the company is "working really, really hard" to remedy the ongoing supply issues.

Earlier today, it was reported that Apple has been repurposing components from iPad models in the iPhone 12 Pro in an effort to meet demand.

Article Link: iPhone 12 Said to be Facing Severe Shortage of Power Management Chips
 
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Bloomberg notes that power management is particularly important for the ‌iPhone 12‌ due to its additional camera features and 5G capabilities.
Sure, because for the iPhone 11 they could have just started shipping devices without the power management chip. 🤣

I'd say, once the design is fixed, every chip is equally important. Any shortage is problematic.
 
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Except they’re having massive supply issues.
You make a valid point but it's not entirely sound. The pandemic has caused many supply chain issues. One might postulate that without Tim, Apple wouldn't have been able to ship the 12 yet, or that they would not have been able to keep up with the rabid demand for MacBooks and iPads this summer (they did get a little behind keeping iPads in stock actually).
 
For some reason I think this relate to Dialog Semiconductor ? That is the only part that changed out of all Power management chip.
 
The supply genius would have recognized in 2019 the massive global problem we were about to have and made the iPhone 12 and 12 pro use almost all the same parts to simplify the supply chain to help absorb future supply constraints and make an iPad with some similar parts to to help distribute production
 
I wonder if this is the reason we've been waiting for well over a month for our orders for Magic Mouse 2 mice that we ordered from a reseller. I bet you those also have power management chips (to cause them to sleep when they don't detect motion) that are not available.
 
Seriously, I wonder how compatible these iPad parts are? Functionally, sure, but I'd fear they use too much power and run too hot for a phone.
 
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