Sales Of New iPhones Delayed

During Apple’s recent earnings call, its CFO, Luca Maestri announced that sales of the upcoming phones might be delayed by a few weeks. This could point to a potential disruption in the supply chain leading up to the launch of the next iPhone.

Cupertino faithfully reveals its annual iPhone refresh in September each year. It hasn’t strayed from this path before, and as such, we are of the inclination that the next big reveal could be just a month away. In recent years, Apple has ensured that customers would be able to purchase the new iPhones right after the launch. However, this might not be the case this year.

During the earnings call, Maestri touched on this briefly (mentioned at 24:30) as he described the sales performance of the iPhone. He said, ” Last year we started selling new iPhones in late September. This year we project supply to be available a few weeks later.”

This is evidence of the fact that, like the rest of the world, Apple wasn’t immune to the turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdowns and financial uncertainties that ensued, has caused severe disruptions to the global economy. However, a few weeks of delays won’t amount to much considering the circumstances.