Apple says supplier demand for iPhone 13 lineup has weakened – Bloomberg News

December 1 (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) told its spare parts suppliers that demand for the iPhone 13 lineup has slowed, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, noting that some consumers have decided not to acquire the hard-to-find item.

The company has cut iPhone 13 production by 10 million units, from a target of 90 million, due to a global chip shortage, but it has now informed suppliers that even those orders may not materialize. , according to the report.

Apple shares fell about 2% in pre-market trading, while shares of iPhone component and semiconductor vendors Qualcomm (QCOM.O), Skyworks (SWKS.O), ASML (ASML .AS) and Infineon (IFXGn.DE) were also down.

The holiday season is Apple’s biggest quarter in terms of revenue and a test of consumer interest in the company’s latest iPhones and MacBooks.

Analysts expected demand to remain stable shortly for the new products, but lowered shipping estimates as supply chain issues weighed on phone makers, many retail partners. warning of product shortages ahead of the holiday shopping season.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook warned in October that the impact of supply constraints, which cost the company $ 6 billion in fourth-quarter sales and affected most of the company’s products , will be worse during the holiday quarter, even if the demand for the new range was robust. Read more

Apple and its suppliers 3M Co (MMM.N), Broadcom Inc (AVGO.O) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O) did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The global chip crisis, initially driven by strong demand for smartphones and personal gadgets during the coronavirus pandemic, has affected the auto industry and disrupted production at companies ranging from Apple to GM (GM.N).

Nikkei announced last month that Apple has cut production of iPad tablets to allocate more components to the iPhone 13. read more

Report by Maria Ponnerhath and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Vinay Dwivedi

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