Ming-Chi Kuo: Pegatron COVID Closures Affecting MacBook Availability

14 APRIL 2022 - COVID closures in the supply chain in China are causing slowdowns for the Mac. A piece from Bloomberg (via Yahoo News) says:

More than 30 Taiwanese companies including Pegatron Corp. and Macbook maker Quanta Computer Inc. have now halted production in the electronics hubs of eastern China to comply with local Covid-related restrictions, spelling more trouble for an already fragile global tech supply chain.

It’s the Quanta closure that consumers are likely to feel most evidently. According to TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kou, they’re currently the only company making MacBook Pros for Apple. He hit Twitter on Tuesday, saying that “the delivery time of high-end MacBook Pros (Quanta as the sole supplier) […] has roughly increased by 3-5 weeks after the China lockdown.” 

A Dig at iPhone SE

It’s hard to tell whether he’s being clever or just stating fact (nuance has little home on Twitter), but the analyst had another Twitter post that seemed to have good news, but really probably didn’t. According to the analyst, the Pegatron closure is having no impact on iPhone SE availability. It could be that Apple had enough units built ahead of the phone’s release. Of course, it could also be that nobody wants the thing. That seems to be Young MC’s take. Quoting the other Tweet:

The delivery status of the new iPhone SE made exclusively by Pegatron remains “in stock” on Apple's online stores in many countries after the China lockdown, implying that the current inventories can still meet lackluster demand.

Eh. To me, iPhone SE has always looked like the “tortoise” to the annual iPhone’s “hare.” I doubt it’ll ever win, but it runs a slow and steady race. But, that’s just a way outside, “seems like how it oughta work” line of thinking. Perhaps not even worth the paper on which it’s not even printed.