iPhone 13 Suffers From Production Issues

A reduction in production in Vietnam due to the pandemic affects a fundamental part of the new iPhone 13, and the assembly is not going at the desired rate.

The information comes from Nikkei Asia, which claims to have obtained statements from Apple supplier executives; some suppliers that are waiting for the parts to arrive from Vietnam to be able to continue the production of the new models.

Specifically, the components are related to the new cameras released on all devices; in fact, the leak suggests that Apple’s decision to implement Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) on all models has made this problem worse.

In the iPhone 12 range, only the most expensive model, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, has OIS to improve image quality and avoid common glitches such as motion blur. With the iPhone 13 , Apple decided to expand this feature to the entire range, even to the cheapest model, the iPhone 13 Mini.

However, that has put more pressure on Vietnam’s production lines, adding to existing limitations to protect employee health. As a result, executives say there is a “gap” in supply; Although assemblers can still produce new iPhones at the moment, the inventory of camera modules is very low .

The success of the iPhone 13 has already caused significant delays in customer shipments, and this can make it worse. As of this writing, iPhone 13 Pro deliveries are already a month late , with deliveries scheduled for late October and early November, while the regular iPhone 13 doesn’t ship until mid-October.

Although the situation in Vietnam may improve throughout October, Nikkei Asia warns that other suppliers, such as Foxconn and Pegatron, may also suffer production problems, in this case, due to the energy crisis in China that is causing blackouts in the factories.