An iPad shortage could be a thing as the chip shortage hits Apple
Is there an iPad shortage on the horizon? For a while, Apple didn’t seem to be bothered by the pandemic. As seen in its performance during 2020, the tech giant has been churning out product after product, and its sales have been pretty good, all things considered. But recent news reports have come out saying that iPad and MacBook production has been hit hard by the global chip shortage.
According to Nikkei Asia, the global chip shortage is now affecting Apple, stunting the manufacturing and distribution of certain Apple products.
If you recall, major tech companies like Samsung, GM, and Tesla have also had production snafus due to the shortage of chips. Apple has not yet commented on the potential iPad shortage, but it has already reportedly delayed the shipping of some of the orders for its affected gadgets. As such, the scheduled shipment for the first half of 2021 has been moved to later on in the year. However, as mentioned, Apple is not alone in this. Major tech companies are already trying to keep up with the chip shortages, and some analysts and experts are projecting that this problem will last well into 2022.
Samsung’s co-Chief Executive Officer, Koh Dong-jin, has spoken out about the chip shortage during a recent Samsung shareholders meeting. He stated that “a serious imbalance in supply and demand of chips in the IT sector globally” has affected Samsung’s production capacities, and he is unsure of when the company can start ramping up production once more.
According to Nikkei, although the chip shortage has already begun making heads spin in the tech arena, it doesn’t have a discernible impact yet on the availability of products for consumers.
As for Apple, consumers may just have to wait and see. The Cupertino-based company has a reputation for keeping tight control of its complex and diverse supply chain, and it has the necessary clout to get anything it needs whenever it needs it. For example, if Apple needed, say, a hundred boxes of phone parts, they could very well get it within the next business day. The fact that there are reports of a Mac and iPad shortage because of the lack of chips is indicative of a potentially massive problem. The chip shortage may become more serious in the coming months, and smaller players may stand to suffer from its effects.
Electronic devices are experiencing increased demand due in part to the coronavirus pandemic that has caused lockdowns across the globe. As people around the world are working and attending school from their homes, more and more individuals have needed to get their own digital devices to smoothen the transition from the physical space to the digital space.
The surge in demand for devices has affected many big brands in the tech realm. For example, Ford and Nissan had to halt their vehicle production for some time because of a lack of parts. Sony also said that the much-coveted PlayStation 5 will not be widely available for quite some time because of the same issue. Concerns over the shortage of parts grow as the days pass, and the office of American President Joe Biden has even spoken out saying that they will be implementing measures to address it, and they will be “identifying choke points in supply chains”.
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