Apple device buyers are waiting up to 90 days to receive their orders
Consumers looking to place orders for certain Apple devices are discovering that there are delays totaling as long as 90 days between the time an order is placed and when it is delivered. According to FrontPageTech's Jon Prosser, some of Apple's suppliers are having issues with assembly-line workers resulting in delays across Chinese production facilities. One example that Prosser discussed was a violent scuffle at a Quanta manufacturing plant.
That company turns out the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro for Apple.
A customized Mac Studio takes as long as 90 days to arrive
Check out some of these delays that have resulted from issues within Apple's supply chain. Those ordering an iPad Air, for example, must wait 40 days for the new tablet to arrive. Hell, you could build an ark in that time period. You'll have to wait close to 70 days for a new MacBook Pro to reach your doorstep and up to 90 days for a customized Mac Studio. And because Apple continues to experience strong sales of its products ordered directly from the company's own online store, the demand continues to be way ahead of supply for some products.
A customized Mac Studio wull arrive at your front door after you wait for as long as 90 days
Living conditions at these factories are behind the riots. Most of the assembly line workers that are building your favorite Apple device usually live at the facility where they work.
These workers are spending some of their paychecks for a place to rest their weary bones after spending a full day doing tedious, repetitive work. And making matters worse, China is enduring a new uptick in COVID cases.
Maybe the pickings aren't as slim for the iPhone now as they were in March 2020 when COVID started to land on U.S. soil. Apple sent a notice to employees back then to warn them that replacement iPhone models were arriving two to four weeks late. But other devices are feeling the brunt of the latest battle between management and the workers, a battle that has been around ever since those two sides have tried to co-exist.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri, according to Reuters, said that supply chain issues during the fiscal third quarter (April through June 2022) will reduce sales by $4 billion to $8 billion. Maestri said that the shortfall will be "substantially larger" than the hit the company took for its fiscal second quarter. Louis Navellier, chief investment officer for Navellier & Associates, said that "We were all looking for just better guidance on what is really going on over there (China) ... and that didn't come out."
Wall Street hates uncertainty and that is what Apple is serving up to investors
What Wall Street hates more than anything is uncertainty and there seems to be plenty of it going around. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently pointed out that Chinese factories doing final assembly work on Apple devices recently restarted after being shuttered due to COVID. The executive said that he hoped the latest issue of COVID in China was "transitory" and would "get better over time."
But Cook could not forecast when the chip shortage, which has impacted mostly older Apple products, will come to an end. He was asked about inflation and how the higher inflation numbers in the U.S. might affect Apple. The CEO responded by saying, "We're monitoring that closely. But right now, our main focus, frankly speaking, is on the supply side."
CFO Maestri also threw his two cents about inflation into the ring (oops, that should be five cents now!). He pointed out that demand for the iPhone was higher than the company anticipated at the start of last quarter. But where Apple was feeling the rising inflation was with the higher prices it is paying for expenses.
In after-hours trading on Monday, Apple closed at $156.25 up $2.45 (1.61%) during the day, and another $1.74 (1.13%) to $156.25 after-hours. The 52-week high is $182.94. Apple's market cap is now at $2.5 trillion.
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