iPhone 12 reportedly lacks power management chips to complete the 80 million units target manufacturing. Sources say that COVID-19 pandemic has a major role to play behind the constraint.
According to Bloomberg, Apple now faces a challenge involving the consistency of the power management chip supply. The information came from people who knew about the story yet choose not to be identified as they are giving away confidential information.
The sources identified that the causes of the constraint are trade restriction and chain disruptions. Both problems are results of the COVID-19 pandemic forcing companies to operate at a skeletal workforce thereby producing below than usual outputs.
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, one of Apple's main chip makers said that 5G smartphones require more chip content than those of 4G devices. The company specified that the latest technology would require a 30% to 40% addition to the regular power management chip.
Power Management Chip benefits
Since iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are the first iOS devices to come out powered by 5G technology, the demand for a consistent supply of the power management chip is high. This is because the said chips are able to sustain the high battery consumption of the latest technology.
The iPhone 12 specifically uses the power management chips for the Texas Instrument camera system. In addition to the chips designed by Apple the 5G modem from STMIelectronis and Qualcomm.
The said chip is also necessary for the Apple Smart Data Mode to work efficiently. Depending on the device usage and network speed, the application switches between 5G and LTE as the demand requires.
Apple presently has several companies supplying power management chips. Yet the report did not specify which among the multiple chip suppliers for the tech giant will cause the constraint.
Power Managment Chip Constraint Effect
The high demand for the chip caused customers to hoard components due to the potential lack of supply. Ahead of the September U.S. sanctions, Huawei Technologies Co. recently did a massive stocking up of supply.
Mac Rumors describes the low power management chips supply as the bottleneck in the Cupertino giant's present challenges. Apple is currently at the heat of its iPhone 12 demand due to the holiday season.
Tim Cook, Apple's Chief Executive Officer assured the investors that the company is working double-time to solve the ongoing supply issue. As a part of the effort to meet the demand, the tech giant reportedly repurposed the components from iPad models I iPhone 12.
In 2018, in order to build its own power management chips, Apple acquired the technology and other assets from Dialog Semiconductor Plc for $600 million.
The rumored chip constraint comes as another challenge to Apple as It tries to meet the demand in China. Investors are closely watching how the tech giant will do it having Huawei and Xiaomi Corp leading the market competition.
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