Apple would be one of the technology companies affected by the coronavirus. The Cupertino firm would have slowed down its iPhone production in recent weeks due to the outbreak, a situation that could continue for a few more weeks.
Research analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has stated in a report that iPhone manufacturing will not improve significantly until the second quarter of 2020.
Smartphones are, so to speak, like cars. Its manufacture and assembly depends on different suppliers of components and parts . And although Apple has tried to reduce as much as possible its dependence on other companies in this regard, it still needs others to supply certain parts of its terminals.
The main problem with the drop in production is due to the dependence that Apple smartphones have on their lens supplier, the Genius Electronic Optical company. This company would have shipped fewer units. However, Kuo says he still has a month’s inventory of inventory.
In addition, Tim Cook’s company has had another problem. As reported by Reuters, LG Innotek, a company that provides modules to the iPhone camera, has closed its factory in Gumi (South Korea), since one of its workers would have been diagnosed with the coronavirus . The plant is going to be disinfected and it is unknown when it could reopen.
Apple itself has already acknowledged to its shareholders that its results forecasts will not be met and will be below its forecast, due to the incidence that the coronavirus is having . The tech giant founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak also warned that it could face limitations in global iPhone supply because of the problem.
Apple closed its Apple Stores in China and its associated stores, which would directly affect sales of its smartphones. In addition, the stoppage in the country would also affect its assembly. Don’t forget that most iPhones are assembled by Foxconn in China. Faced with this situation, the Cupertino firm is studying whether to divert part of the production to other places with which they work, such as Brazil, Vietnam, India or Taiwan.
In the case of Spain, Apple would have begun to show a lack of stock of some products, such as the iPhone 11. Some deliveries are suffering delays of days or weeks and in physical stores there is a lack of stock.
Tim Cook gives a message of reassurance
In an interview that Tim Cook gave Fox a few days ago, the CEO of Apple was confident and assured that it is only a “temporary situation”, which would not affect the company “in the long term.”
Cook has asserted that “the iPhone is built around the world.” “We have key components that come from the United States, we have key parts that are in China and so on. When you look at the parts that are made in China, we have reopened factories, because the factories have been able to work towards their reopening, “the executive tried to reassure.
The person in charge has also insisted that the factories have increased production , so he believes that “we are in a kind of third phase of returning to normality.”
