Apple says iPhone, Mac, iPad and Apple Watch supply constrained

Apple is seeing supply constraints across its product lineup, a potential indicator of high demand for new iPhone 12 models and other devices.

During the company's earnings call on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted that supply of the new iPhone models, as well as certain Apple Watch, Mac and iPad devices, are currently constrained.

Although the Apple chief executive didn't elaborate on the cause of the holdup, it could be a mix of higher-than-anticipated demand and lingering supply chain issues from the coronavirus.

On Thursday, Apple reported an all-new record high for the Mac segment, largely driven by continued remote work and education tailwinds during the global health crisis. Although the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro launched too late in the year to be included in the September quarter results, delivery dates for the released models started slipping within hours of availability.

"Not a surprise at front end of the ramp, and how long we'll be constrained it's hard to predict. We haven't taken orders yet for iPhone 12 Mini or Pro Max, so those are coming and we shall see," Cook said.

Apple launched new Mac and iPad models throughout the year, and the iPhone supply chain is working on both the released iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro models and the unreleased iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Across the board, Cook said the company is working to mitigate the problems. That will likely become increasingly important as the company approaches the busy holiday shopping season.

"A fair number of areas of focus right now, and we're working really, really hard to remedy those as quickly as we can. But at this point, I can't estimate when we'll be out of that," Cook said.

Earlier in October, a supply chain report suggested that Apple supplier Foxconn was hiring factory workers "in droves" in anticipation of iPhone 12 demand.

15 Comments

22july2013 3725 comments · 11 Years

About 4 years ago

Will people try to sell new, unopened Apple devices on eBay for higher than Apple's prices?

mknelson 1147 comments · 9 Years

I'd tend to think supply issues still linger.

One weird sign: Go to the top 27" (8 core) and Apple says 3-4 weeks. Change RAM (because you aren't cheap :D), change the CPU, Storage, still 3-4 weeks

Change the GPU on the other hand. 1-2 weeks! The 5500XT seems to be the bottleneck on that model.

F_Kent_D 98 comments · 6 Years

mknelson said:

I'd tend to think supply issues still linger.

One weird sign: Go to the top 27" (8 core) and Apple says 3-4 weeks. Change RAM (because you aren't cheap :D), change the CPU, Storage, still 3-4 weeks

Change the GPU on the other hand. 1-2 weeks! The 5500XT seems to be the bottleneck on that model.

The bottleneck as for what folks are ordering. A lot of people know that the GPU an iMac ships with is almost always sufficient for their needs of a very long lasting machine with the software optimization that’ll take place for 10 years or so. What’s crazy is people are still buying the hell out of the “Outdated 5 years ago design” while knowing apple is about to release an entire new lineup. Don’t believe the YouTube media hype saying the current iMac is an eyesore of an old design. My 2017 i5 iMac is still a pleasure to look at and will bring top dollar as a used machine when I go to sell it. Not a single Windows machine has the ability to pull that sort of longevity off.

cia 269 comments · 21 Years

Data point: I ordered a 44mm Product RED Apple Watch 6 on Oct 15th. 5 days ago it shipped direct from China and was delivered today (Oct 29th) in New England.

razorpit 1793 comments · 17 Years

F_Kent_D said:

mknelson said:

I'd tend to think supply issues still linger.

One weird sign: Go to the top 27" (8 core) and Apple says 3-4 weeks. Change RAM (because you aren't cheap :D), change the CPU, Storage, still 3-4 weeks

Change the GPU on the other hand. 1-2 weeks! The 5500XT seems to be the bottleneck on that model.

The bottleneck as for what folks are ordering. A lot of people know that the GPU an iMac ships with is almost always sufficient for their needs of a very long lasting machine with the software optimization that’ll take place for 10 years or so. What’s crazy is people are still buying the hell out of the “Outdated 5 years ago design” while knowing apple is about to release an entire new lineup. Don’t believe the YouTube media hype saying the current iMac is an eyesore of an old design. My 2017 i5 iMac is still a pleasure to look at and will bring top dollar as a used machine when I go to sell it. Not a single Windows machine has the ability to pull that sort of longevity off.

Most people don’t know what’s coming. I was at the Genius Bar literally an hour before the iPhone 12 announcement and people were in there looking at 11’s. You think they know Apple is about to change the silicon?