Sources Say iPhone 13 Models Have Increased in Price as Suppliers Suffer Power Shortages and Production Stoppages
Domestic media outlet Kuaikeji reported that the recent large-scale power shortage in many regions across China has led to power rationing in some areas of the country. Although residents’ electricity consumption has not been affected, some industrial enterprises and manufacturers have stopped working due to the recent power rationing, including many key suppliers of Apple.
The report shows that those Apple suppliers affected by this power cut include Kunshan Dingxin Electronics, a factory of Unimicron and a printed circuit board manufacturer in Suzhou. Other major suppliers include ESON Precision Engineering (under Foxconn), Concraft Holding (speaker components), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) Kunshan Company (substrate materials, packaging and testing services), GlobalWafers Kunshan Factory (wafer), Pegatron (OEM), FuDing Precision Industry (under Foxconn), and Flexium Interconnect (flexible PCB).
According to the report, people familiar with the matter said, taking Flexium Interconnect as an example, it is difficult for the existing inventory to meet peak season shipments of the iPhone during the power shortage period, and its revenue will definitely be affected. It is still difficult to estimate the actual impact, though the manufacturer is planning to to work overtime after the normal power supply is restored on October 1.
In response to the report, Foxconn said that its production facilities in Shenzhen, Zhengzhou, Chengdu and other places are engaged in normal operation. The company assembles some iPhones at its Shenzhen facility, while the Zhengzhou facility is one of Apple’s biggest production sites for iPhones. The Chengdu location is responsible for the assembly of Apple’s watches, tablets and computers.
Some media outlets have reported that Foxconn’s Shenzhen facility will suffer a power outage starting from October 1. Foxconn responded that this is merely a routine overhaul, and that employees will dispatch electricity from other power lines to ensure normal production and operations.
At present, due to the power cut of suppliers, some impacts have been caused on Apple and its new iPhone 13 products. Some people have revealed that some versions of the iPhone 13 that were previously priced lower have now started to increase in price. Furthermore, supply in offline stores has also decreased. If the power cut does not change in the near future, it will aggravate the shortage of the supply of iPhone 13 products, and a serious spot premium may unfold.
The iPhone 13 series was officially released last week and saw huge sales volumes, especially the iPhone 13 Pro, which has demonstrable improvements in almost every facet of the phone, including image quality, performance, battery and refresh rate. Given the quality of the new device, supply has been less than demand and this model’s price is still at a premium since the day of release.
However, in contrast, the other iPhone 13 series models have not attracted as many buyers. Even before the official launch, these models’ price already started to drop. On the day of release, they were already cheaper than the official price by about300 yuan, and only the model with the newest color price has not dropped in price.
