Kuo: Apple facing shortage of 15-20 million iPhone 14 Pros ahead of holiday shopping season

A new report from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo points to a major shortage that Apple will be facing in the weeks left of this holiday shopping season. According to Kuo, Apple is expected to ship between 70-75 million iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max units, 15-20 million short of what was initially expected. The number is significantly more than Bloomberg’s estimated 6 million-unit shortage from a recent report.

The total iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max shipments in 4Q22 will be 15–20 million units less than expected. Significant downside risks to Apple & iPhone supply chain due to Zhengzhou iPhone plant labor protestshttps://t.co/tUkKE9TGVG

— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) November 29, 2022

The shortages are attributed to the recent COVID outbreak in China, which prompted factories to shut down and sparked labor protests at a Foxconn factory where iPhones are manufactured. Kuo also noted that Pegatron and Luxshare ICT, two other Chinese manufacturers, will pick up about 10% of the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro orders, respectively. This should help recover some of shortage, but not until late December.

These iPhone 14 Pro models are priced quite high, so a shortage of this many iPhones would significantly reduce Apple’s iPhone revenue for Q4 2022.

Currently, the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are out of stock at Apple Stores in the US and orders won’t be fulfilled until December 29 as of this writing. Kuo believes that people won’t wait around to buy a new iPhone 14 Pro when effects of a recession begin to strengthen. Instead, Kuo says “most of the demand for the 4Q22 iPhone 14 Pro series amid the economic recession will disappear due to the significant supply and demand gap rather than deferred.”

Head to the link to read Ming-Chi Kuo’s full report.

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