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Apple is facing a shortage of chips that manage power consumption in iPhones and other equipment. The situation could jeopardize its ability to respond to the strong demand for its devices, especially the new iPhone 12 family, in the next quarter, marked by campaigns like Black Friday and the Christmas period.
According to sources Bloomberg had access to, the shortage is mainly caused by restrictions implemented by the Donald Trump administration, as well as disruptions in production chains due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is recalled that in May the US government imposed new restrictions on Chinese companies, such as Huawei, which are on their “black list”. The measure determined that, as of September 15, Huawei’s global suppliers using US technology in the development or manufacture of its products would have to apply for permission from Washington to sell essential components to the Chinese company.
In an effort to mitigate the consequences of the measure, Huawei began to stock an additional stock of components, such as chips, eventually leaving a smaller amount for the remaining buyers.
Since the iPhone 12 supports 5G, as well as more advanced features in its cameras, such as the presence of a LiDAR sensor in the Pro models, managing power consumption is of the utmost importance.
IFixit’s latest teardown showed that the iPhone 12 uses components made by Texas Instruments to control power for the camera system, as well as chips from STMicroelectronics NV and Qualcomm that perform the same function, but for the 5G modem.
During a conference call with analysts, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, had already warned of supply difficulties regarding the iPhone 12, Mac computers, iPad and some models of the Apple Watch, although he did not specifically mention the issue of chips.
The disruption in iPhone production comes at a time when Apple’s revenues in the Chinese market have reached their lowest level since 2014. Investors fear that the Apple company may lose ground to Huawei or Xiaomi in one of their largest markets. critics.
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