Apple may have to deal with a supply shortage for the iPhone 7 during launch. According to a report by Nikkei, the shortage will be due to faulty components. An industry source told the publication, “If Apple sticks to its launch schedule from last year, there may not be enough supply at the beginning, as some suppliers are still trying to fix low yield rates of their components.” The yield rate measures how many salable units a manufacturer has at the end of a production process. So low yields would result in high manufacturing costs and failure to deliver enough volume of the product to customers.
Earlier this year, Apple had reportedly ordered its suppliers to produce 72 to 78 million iPhone 7 smartphones by the end of the year. Not only was this the highest production target in two years, but was higher than analysts’ expectations of 65 million devices. The company recorded it first ever drop in iPhone sales this year and Apple seems to have high expectation of the iPhone 7. According to a tweet by leakster Evan Blass, the next generation iPhone 7 devices will be up for pre-order from September 6.
This isn’t the first time that the supply of an upcoming iPhone have been questioned. Last year, noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated that the iPhone 6S Plus was facing supply problems due to production issues with it backlight module.