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Several Apple products, including recently launched devices, are currently experiencing delayed shipping times, a possible sign that the ongoing chip shortage could be more significantly impacting Apple and its products.

apple-lineup.jpg

During the company's third-quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook warned that the chip shortage that has plagued the industry for the last few months would impact iPhone shipments this year. While Cook was likely referencing constraints with the upcoming iPhone 13, the shortage could be creeping onto existing models.

Ahead of an expected refresh or update, the current and soon-to-be last generation devices can be expected to be depleted in stock as Apple makes room for the newer models. As a result, select configurations of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 are showing up to two weeks for shipments at the time of writing.

Similarly, across the Apple Watch lineup, some models of the aluminum case of the Series 6 are at least three to four weeks out, while stainless steel models are entirely sold out or at least three weeks away. Next Tuesday, September 14, Apple is expected to release the iPhone 13 and Apple Watch Series 7 to replace the existing models.

While the iPhone and Apple Watch are soon getting updated, likely resulting in the delayed shipments, other products are less certain. For example, the 24-inch iMac, powered with the M1 Apple silicon chip, is currently at least three to four weeks out. As a matter of fact, all products with the M1 Apple silicon chip are currently experiencing some form of delay.

m1-chip-slide.jpg

For instance, depending on configuration, the M1 13-inch MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro are listing three days or up to a week for shipments, though specific timeframes will fluctuate. Under normal circumstances, depending on location, products may be available for same-day delivery.

The M1 Apple silicon chip was announced in November of last year, and since its announcement, Apple has expanded it to more products, including the iPad Pro. The out-of-normal shipping times for multiple M1 products could act as further proof that the chip shortage is directly limiting M1 production, hindering shipping times and general availability.

In the last several months, several reports have suggested that Apple's suppliers are struggling to keep up with demand. Specifically, the company's suppliers for mini-LED displays to be used in upcoming MacBook Pros have reportedly struggled to reach satisfactory output levels, possibly pushing Apple to invest in procuring additional suppliers.

Article Link: Several Apple Products Currently Experiencing Delayed Shipping Times
 
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All eyes are on Malaysia at this point. For those in the know, the fabs there have been operating at 60% for a few months now. Infineon, NXP, Renesas and ST Micro are all affected. Apple uses components from all of those suppliers.

 
When the timeline was set way in advance for Apple silicon in Macs; with TSMC being their chip fab, they didn’t anticipate there would be a global chip shortage as a result of a pandemic.

Gears set in motion then can’t easily be reversed now. It’s “Apple M1” or “None!” Seems like Apple will have to settle for “None!”*

There would be no easy marketing tactic Marcom could use to convince consumers to buy another itieration of Intel iMacs and Mac Minis with 14nm++ 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPUs. Intel is also getting crushed, but its less dire of a situation.

Not the greatest situation for Apple. Being stuck on Intel would be a much better outcome than being stuck with a contractor struggling to manufacture your own components.

Hopefully this chip shortage ends soon for a multitude of reasons.

*none, as in none in stock.
 
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When the timeline was set way in advance for Apple silicon in Macs; with TSMC being their chip fab, they didn’t anticipate there would be a global chip shortage as a result of a pandemic.

Gears set in motion then can’t easily be reversed now. It’s “Apple M1” or “None!” Seems like Apple will have to settle for “None!”*

There would be no easy marketing tactic Marcom could use to convince consumers to buy another itieration of Intel iMacs and Mac Minis with 14nm++ 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPUs. Intel is also getting crushed, but its less dire of a situation.

Not the greatest situation for Apple. Being stuck on Intel would be a much better outcome than being stuck with a contractor struggling to manufacture your own components.

Hopefully this chip shortage ends soon for a multitude of reasons.

*none, as in none in stock.
If Intel had 'Apple demand' would they be any less constrained than TSMC?
 
If Intel had 'Apple demand' would they be any less constrained than TSMC?
Hard to say; but Apple was only about 8% of Intel’s business; which is not much compared to the fact they control 80% of the x86 market worldwide.

On the other hand, all of TSMC’s production capacity for Apple now has to be split between iOS devices and Macs. Apple will now have to choose between Macs and iOS and of course the more popular, more profitable products will win - iOS product lines remain Apple’s bread and butter.

Since Intel lost business from Apple, but doesn’t manufacture M1 chips, there’s excess capacity from the loss of Apple. There’s historically been supply chain issues with 11th gen i7s and i9s during initial ramp up, but those issues have been alleviated.
 
They say M1 Macs are selling well and there are supplies issues.

I wonder how many people will grow tired of owning a machine you can no longer emulate or boot Windows with?

Windows still runs on 80 percent of the machines around the world.

Even the G5 and G4 Macs were able to run windows in emulation.

On and M1 Mac your screwed. It's APPLES OS and nothing else. Maybe Linux on ARM.

I think alot of Mac users will hold onto their Intel Macs.

Your losing too much freedom for a little extra performance in a processor Intel will beat by next year with a faster CPU
 
They say M1 Macs are selling well and there are supplies issues.

I wonder how many people will grow tired of owning a machine you can no longer emulate or boot Windows with?

Windows still runs on 80 percent of the machines around the world.

Even the G5 and G4 Macs were able to run windows in emulation.

On and M1 Mac your screwed. It's APPLES OS and nothing else. Maybe Linux on ARM.

I think alot of Mac users will hold onto their Intel Macs.

Your losing too much freedom for a little extra performance in a processor Intel will beat by next year with a faster CPU
I can't wait for the Pro M-based iMac to launch.... not because I want to buy one, but because it will hopefully force a price drop of the last intel-based iMacs. That's what I'm looking to update my 2014 iMac to.
 
I wonder if to help simplify the chip supply lines the iPhone will get an M1 (or next gen M Chip).

im sure that’s why the iPad Pro got an M1 instead of an A14X
 
I feel for the families affected in the chip fabs. The better performance, cool running, virtually silent and all day battery life of the M1 chip sold me on Apple Silicon in Macs. If there’s a delay I’m happy to wait for it. But I have my Apple Card ready to preorder.
 
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When the timeline was set way in advance for Apple silicon in Macs; with TSMC being their chip fab, they didn’t anticipate there would be a global chip shortage as a result of a pandemic.

Gears set in motion then can’t easily be reversed now. It’s “Apple M1” or “None!” Seems like Apple will have to settle for “None!”*

There would be no easy marketing tactic Marcom could use to convince consumers to buy another itieration of Intel iMacs and Mac Minis with 14nm++ 11th Gen Rocket Lake CPUs. Intel is also getting crushed, but its less dire of a situation.

Not the greatest situation for Apple. Being stuck on Intel would be a much better outcome than being stuck with a contractor struggling to manufacture your own components.

Hopefully this chip shortage ends soon for a multitude of reasons.

*none, as in none in stock.
AFAIK the limitation is not the CPU/SOC but support chips. Apple has a supply of M1s from TSMC. Switching back to Intel would not help as it is other chips that are the bottleneck. They would still be supply constrained.
 
Wait, by saying there are delays in M1 products, you're implying an M2! I'd like to see that, and personally would think an A15 and M2 would probably be targeted for shipping about the same time...

Still lots of questions about the high-end Apple laptops. I hope we find out soon.
 
They say M1 Macs are selling well and there are supplies issues.

I wonder how many people will grow tired of owning a machine you can no longer emulate or boot Windows with?

Windows still runs on 80 percent of the machines around the world.

Even the G5 and G4 Macs were able to run windows in emulation.

On and M1 Mac your screwed. It's APPLES OS and nothing else. Maybe Linux on ARM.

I think alot of Mac users will hold onto their Intel Macs.

Your losing too much freedom for a little extra performance in a processor Intel will beat by next year with a faster CPU

I totally agree with your points. Even Linux on ARM has sub-par performance on my M1 MBA using Parallels. It doesn't even have 3D accelerated graphics support so the UI feels laggy as hell.
Also, majority of the packages don't have ARM versions so the whole thing is basically useless.
 
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