Sources: Apple will likely cut its projected iPhone 13 production targets for 2021 by 10M units, due to shortage of Broadcom and Texas Instruments parts
Apple Inc. is likely to slash its projected iPhone 13 production targets for 2021 by as many as 10 million units because of prolonged chip shortages …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple had already cut planned iPhone orders earlier in 2021, including a sharp reduction for the iPhone 12 mini. The iPhone 13 reduction is different in kind: the stated constraint is the availability of parts from Broadcom and Texas Instruments.
The subsequent supplier guidance that Apple may not recover the missing 2021 volume in 2022 raises the stakes beyond a short scheduling adjustment. A component bottleneck can permanently reset the production plan rather than merely defer it.
First-order effects
- Apple has to lower its 2021 iPhone 13 production plan by as many as 10 million units and allocate the available Broadcom and Texas Instruments parts across a smaller output target.
- Broadcom and Texas Instruments become immediate production bottlenecks for Apple’s iPhone 13 plan, making their component availability more consequential than Apple’s original volume forecast.
Second-order effects
- Apple suppliers cannot assume the lost 2021 iPhone 13 volume will shift into 2022 after Apple indicated it may not make up the shortfall, tightening planning for companies tied to its handset output.
- Apple’s earlier reductions in iPhone orders and the new parts shortage together make its supplier commitments more variable, separating demand-driven model adjustments from supply-constrained production cuts.
Third-order effects
- If Apple’s unrecovered shortfall becomes a repeated pattern, semiconductor capacity constraints will increasingly determine handset output plans rather than serving as a temporary procurement issue.
- The episode points to a supply chain in which large device makers must treat component allocation as a core product-planning variable, with upstream chip suppliers exerting greater leverage over launch-year volumes.
The trend: Smartphone production planning is shifting toward component-constrained allocation, as chip availability increasingly sets the ceiling on device output.