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Longer delivery times for iPhone 13 as Covid-19 disrupts suppliers in Vietnam

By Cookie Monster - on 30 Sep 2021, 12:00am

Longer delivery times for iPhone 13 as Covid-19 disrupts suppliers in Vietnam

The Apple iPhone 13 lineup.

While Covid-19 did not affect the launch of the Apple iPhone 13 this year, a resurgence in the coronavirus is disrupting the supply chain in Vietnam.

Sources familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia that supplies of camera modules for the iPhone 13 models are constrained as a majority of the components are assembled in Vietnam. The resurgence of Covid-19, caused by the Delta variant, has forced the Vietnamese government to impose strict measures for factories.

In addition, Apple's implementation of sensor-shift optical image stabilization (OIS) throughout the iPhone 13 lineup has placed suppliers under pressure to boost production and maintain production quality at the same time. The situation may improve in mid-October as one factory recently resumed normal operations after months of on-and-off disruptions.

"Assemblers can still produce the new iPhones, but there's a supply gap [in] that the inventories of the camera modules are running low," one of the executives with direct knowledge told Nikkei Asia. "There's nothing we can do but to monitor the situation in Vietnam every day and wait for them to ramp up the output."

However, a halt in industrial power supply across provinces in China could impact iPhone production in the coming quarter. Printed circuit boards, materials and petrochemical supplies will be affected significantly if the power supply restrictions by the Chinese government continue.

Source: Nikkei Asia

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