Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the news organisation said that Apple had told its suppliers not to expect a surge in demand early next year, and that it may not reach the kind of “blockbuster” sales targets originally envisioned.
Apple had already been forced to cut production on the iPhone 13, which was revealed in September, due to the global chip shortage.
It reportedly reduced the number of devices it planned to manufacture by 10 million, down from an original target of 90 million.
The chip shortage is expected to create a bottleneck for manufacturers lasting through at least 2022 and possibly beyond. As well as consumer technology, it has also impacted automakers like Toyota, which was forced to slash vehicle production by 40 per cent in September.
Even with supplies expected to improve for Apple early next year, Bloomberg’s sources do not expect this to translate into more sales. Anecdotally, the base version of iPhone 13 currently only...