Apple has reportedly asked suppliers to boost iPhone production for 2021

[nanoguy]

In context: Apple iPhone sales have slowed in recent years, standing at 116 million units for the first nine months of 2020. However, according to reports, Apple is asking suppliers to ramp up production for the first half of 2021, signaling a potential smartphone supercycle that could see shipments once again reach 2015 levels.

Demand for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 11 has reportedly surged in the last few months, despite the lasting financial uncertainty caused by the pandemic. It turns out that Apple's first 5G handsets are enticing consumers to upgrade, while 5G rollout is expected to cover one billion people by the end of the year. By 2026, that number is expected to be 3.5 billion, so a lot of buyers of the new iPhone 12 are early adopters.

According to a Nikkei report, Apple has increased its orders of the latest iPhone at manufacturers, as it expects sales to reach as high as 96 million units for the first half of 2021.

To put things in perspective, Apple plans to sell between 20 to 30 percent more iPhones in 2021 than it did in 2019, which comes out at about 230 million units, including the new iPhone 12 series, the iPhone 11 and the iPhone SE. However, that depends on overcoming several supply chain issues that have been popping up as of late.

Last month, Apple said it was investigating Pegatron for potential labor violations, which could force it to abandon the long time supplier for Luxshare, which is currently in a better position to manufacture iPhones after buying two Wistron factories.

Supply chain insiders have also observed a shortage of essential components like power management chips, and recently thousands of Wistron employees took part in a riot over unfair pay.

News that the latest iPhones are selling above expectations was well received by public investors, and Apple shares were up 4 percent this morning as a result. As for the upcoming iPhone 13, analysts aren't convinced it will bring as much excitement, even as the rumor mill has been abuzz about the integration of new battery technology and an always-on display that is more energy-efficient.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87982-apple-has-reportedly-asked-suppliers-boost-iphone-production.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Unless iPhone 13 has TouchID and 1TB of storage, I’ll stick with this Pro Max 12 512GB another year.

 

[dangh]

With current issues in India factory this finds be interesting.

 

[brucek]

I find it interesting that Apple can ship not only their own silicon, but an entire complicated product including at times some fairly exotic components for the imaging and sensing in the tens of millions of units, typically with enough on hand to satisfy day one demand, and certainly the ability to take orders for any shortfall with reasonably accurate ship dates provided, all while having to coordinate with the mobile service providers and their requirements.

Meanwhile Nvidia apparently can not ship 100,000 standalone GPUs.

Do Nvidia and AMD need to try to hire some logistics people from Apple who know what they are doing?

 

[Lew Zealand]

Apple's market cap is 6x Nvida's and 16x AMD's. Bigger company with more financial leverage and can pay their way to the front of the fab line.

Also:

A14 - 88 sq mm
GA102 - 640 sq mm
Navi 21 - 520 sq mm

you get a lot more A14s outta the same wafer.

 

[brucek]

All true Lew, but then again, Apple's unit volumes are also far bigger multiples than say it's 6x market cap advantage or its 8x die size advantage.

While I do believe that there are companies so small, and/or new, that these issues would truly be insurmountable, in the case of large established companies like Nvidia and AMD, I think by the far the most relevant difference is what their senior management believes to be acceptable.

If Apple wanted to do sloppy rollouts they'd have every excuse in the book to justify them. But they don't, so they won't. And I'm not praising them for their charity, I believe they do it because they know it's good business -- customers buy more when they do not have to jump through hoops to do it. (or, in the case of no longer allowing crowds outside their stores, because its sensible liability mitigation.)

 

[p51d007]

No biggie...they just have their slave labor world wide, to work faster.

 

[Axiarus]

Unless iPhone 13 has TouchID and 1TB of storage, I’ll stick with this Pro Max 12 512GB another year.

Did you have something dated before? I am on a 11 Pro Max and the lack of 120hz made me skip the 12 Pro Max. If the 13 has 120hz I will be picking it up. Storage does not matter too much for me since I don't install games or music.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Did you have something dated before? I am on a 11 Pro Max and the lack of 120hz made me skip the 12 Pro Max. If the 13 has 120hz I will be picking it up. Storage does not matter too much for me since I don't install games or music.

I went from XS MAX 512GB to iPhone 12 Pro Max 512GB.

I specifically want more storage and the largest physical phone.