Apple's bumper Christmas sales period under threat from global supply crunch 

Orders for the iPhone 13, iPad mini, ninth-generation iPad, Apple Watch Series 7 and MacBook Pro may not be fulfilled until November or December

iPhone 13 Pro

Shoppers looking for Apple devices in the run-up to Christmas are facing a chilly reality — most everything they might want to buy will take weeks to arrive.

Orders for the company’s newest products — the iPhone 13, iPad mini, ninth-generation iPad, Apple Watch Series 7, and MacBook Pro — will not be fulfilled until November or December. Even some older devices, including the iMac announced in April, the Mac Pro, and some pricier configurations of the MacBook Air, are seeing delays.

Having to wait for an Apple product is nothing new, with the annual release of the iPhone and other hot products bringing long lines and order backlogs. But this year the delays are spread more widely, and that threatens to undercut what could be Apple’s biggest sales quarter in its history.

The company is expected to generate nearly $120bn (€103bn) in the final three months of the year, up 7% from a year earlier. In a year when Apple should be enjoying one of its biggest product-upgrade cycles ever, navigating the supply crunch is the “elephant in the room”, said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.

The iPhone — Apple’s flagship product, accounting for about half of its sales — is the highest-profile case of shortages. 

One month after going on sale, the iPhone 13 Pro is hard to find in every colour, configuration, and size.

As well as online, the shortages extend to the company’s brick-and-mortar stores, with the majority of outlets seeing little or no supply of most models.

Bloomberg