Major iPhone supplier Foxconn says that it expects the ongoing chip shortage to continue well into the second half of next year, prolonging struggles of manufacturers, including Apple, to keep up with consumer demand, The Wall Street Journalreports.
Apple has been dealing with the chip shortage for the past several quarters, but it only started significantly impacting Apple’s business in the most recent quarter. The shortage of specific components and production constraints related to the ongoing public health crisis have impacted iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac availability. Apple said that this past quarter, the shortages cost it $6 billion, and it expects the impact to be even more significant for the holiday season.
Foxconn is Apple's largest supplier for the iPhone, and while some reports suggest that production is improving, it's still a length away from being entirely normal. As the holiday season approaches, Apple is encouraging customers to get their holiday orders in early to ensure they receive them in time for the holidays, and the company has provided "order by" dates for some of its most popular products.
Friday October 30, 2026 3:20 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
In a memo shared with Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers this week, and later obtained by MacRumors, Apple provided technicians with guidance on how to diagnose and address the iPhone Duo's inner display cracking issue.
If a customer reports the issue, Apple advised technicians to inspect the iPhone Duo and repair or replace it in accordance with their standard procedures....
Thursday October 29, 2026 1:47 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the new iPad mini has an OLED display, the device does not support ProMotion, meaning the display's refresh rate is limited to 60Hz instead of 120Hz.
ProMotion support would have allowed for the iPad mini's refresh rate to automatically adjust from 10Hz to 120Hz depending on the content being displayed, but evidently Apple has kept the feature exclusive to the iPad Pro among iPad...
Thursday October 29, 2026 11:52 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
In the U.S. and most other countries, Apple's website shows the new iPad mini being held by pinched fingers, but this is not the case in South Korea.
The new iPad mini shown with pinched fingers on Apple's website in the U.S.
On its South Korean website, Apple simply shows an image of the iPad mini on its own.
The new iPad mini shown without pinched fingers on Apple's website in South Korea ...
My recommendation, If you don’t really need a new iPhone don’t buy one I would say. If you have an iPhone X to 12, keep it until it stops getting iOS updates. Yes, some will say, it’s your freedom, right and money. But it’s just my opinion.
The “chip shortage” is rather complex, new nodes, eg 5nm are fine, older nodes are not and a lot of companies are hording inventory so some of it is artificial. Also interesting to note is that RAM and flash prices are leveling out and even start declining again, an indication that the PC market will decline again. I think that the chip shortage as in wafer fab is going to end in H1 22 but that is only part of the supply chain.
Overall supply chain is a big mess and it will take long to recover.
