Image: Brian Kostiuk via Unsplash
Another problem in the supply chain. But… you know… ’s gonna be great!
9 to 5 Mac highlights a report from The Elec, saying “at least one of Apple’s OLED suppliers for iPhone has been badly hit by a shortage of display drivers.” The site does a neat little recap of how we got to this point:
The world caught COVD-19
Folks needed/wanted new tech for the home thanks to work from home and not going out to have fun
Chip production was hampered by COVID-19
Demand for chips (especially from the auto industry) quickly outstripped supply
Just as Apple CEO Tim Cook often blames a lack of legacy nodes when addressing supply constraints, 9 to 5 Mac says:
The biggest issue is not with CPUs and GPUs, but far more mundane chips like display drivers and power management systems. These relatively low-tech chips are used in a huge number of devices, including [devices made by Apple].
Which leads us back to the display driver concern. According to The Elec:
Chinese display giant BOE is facing production problems in OLED panels for iPhones due to the ongoing global chip shortage, […] The shortage will affect production this month and next month, sources said […]
The Chinese display giant internally had aimed to ship over 40 million units of OLED panels for iPhones this year, another group of people familiar with the matter said. It is unlikely that they will meet this target now and its ultimate shipment numbers will more close to 30 million units by the end of the year.
How big a deal will this be for iPhone delivery? Without knowing the ins-and-outs of Apple’s supply chain, it’s really difficult to say. Missing by 10-million for the year is no small thing. Then again, BOE is only Apple’s third largest OLED supplier. 9 to 5 Mac says it follows LG in second and Samsung in first. So, who knows? It’s possible one Apple supplier can’t get the parts it needs because two other Apple suppliers are taking them all, which could still mean plenty of iPhones to g ‘round.
I did the whole “’s gonna be great” thing already, didn’t I? Yeah… I think I did.
