iPad and MacBook Production Reportedly Delayed Due to Global Chip Shortage

Apple is facing a global shortage of certain components for some of its MacBook and iPad models, causing the Cupertino tech giant and its suppliers to postpone production of the products, according to a new report from Nikkei Asia.

ipad pro and macbook pro
According to the report, MacBook production is being hindered due to the shortage of chips mounted onto the circuit board before final assembly, which is a key step in the overall production process. ‌iPad‌ production is being impacted due to display and display component shortages, the report adds.

In response to the pushed back production, Apple has postponed component orders for the two devices to the second half of the year. While MacBook and ‌iPad‌ production is being directly impacted, iPhone production is so far not affected. However, industry sources say that supplies for ‌iPhone‌ components are limited.

Production plans for Apple's iconic iPhones have so far not been affected by the supply shortage, although the supply of some components for the devices is "quite tight," according to two sources. Overall, the component shortage remains a supply chain issue for Apple and has not yet had an impact on product availability for consumers, Nikkei has learned.

Apple is widely expected to be launching new iPad Pro models and possibly redesigned MacBook Pros with Apple silicon in the coming months. Bloomberg has reported that new ‌iPad‌ models with drastically improved performance and a new mini-LED display are simply weeks away from launch.

While Nikkei doesn't specify which ‌iPad‌ and MacBook models are being impacted due to the shortage, it certainly seems plausible that the delayed assembly of the products could result in some form of a delayed product announcement from Apple.

Related Roundups: iPad, iPad Pro, iPad mini, MacBook Pro
Tag: Nikkei
Related Forums: iPad, MacBook Pro

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
apple oct 2024 mac tease

Apple Expected to Announce These Two to Three Products 'This Week'

Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip. Gurman...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
joz macbook tease

Apple Teases Upcoming M5 MacBook Pro Launch: 'Something Powerful is Coming'

Tuesday October 14, 2025 11:59 am PDT by
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today teased the launch of an upcoming product, saying "something powerful is coming" on social media. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A short animation accompanying Joswiak's teaser reveals a brief glimpse of a MacBook Pro along with the words "coming soon." The shape of the MacBook Pro is a V, which is the Roman numeral...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
macbook pro blue

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Imminent: What to Expect

Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac. M5 Chip The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip. The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....

Top Rated Comments

RedTomato Avatar
59 months ago

The fundamental problem is that in the year 2000, there were about 30 companies that made their own integrated circuits.

Then, they discovered that it's a lot cheaper to outsource, and now we have only a handful of companies producing chips while the demand is higher than it has ever been. Even AMD outsource their actual chip manufacturing to companies like TSMC.
Not really cheaper. The technology for tooling a modern chip line has become so advanced and so expensive that even with the resources of the entire world, it's only possible to set up 2 or 3 next-generation EUV chip lines. The machines are insanely complicated - they use lasers to explode droplets of vaporised tin plasma, creating extreme ultra-violet light that needs to be focussed through mirrors to etch the chip - but the mirrors unavoidably absorb 96% of the light.

The power efficiency is around 0.02% so for each 200watts of laser light delivered over a million watts is needed at the wall. Each EUV machine weights 200 tons and only does about 40 wafers per hour, and costs over $120 million, and that is only a small part of what building a new chip line involves - but it's the main limiting factor.

There's more or less only one company that makes them, ASML in the Netherlands, which was formed from a consortium of almost all the research companies working in this field - because the expense and difficulty of developing them was so extreme. So far, I believe there's only around 100 of these EUV machines worldwide, and ASML is working flat out to refine and make more of them.

As you said, it costs around $20-100 billion to set up new chip lines, and the next generation is likely to be even more expensive. It may be that from 2025 onwards, every chip company in the world will have to jointly collaborate to fund a single next-generation line with huge government funding - the costs are just too extreme otherwise.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
-DMN- Avatar
59 months ago
There’s only a chip shortage because of demand, so why not set up infrastructure so we’re able to build more chips here in the U.S.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wanha Avatar
59 months ago
Apple is THE premium customer in tech and will always get preferential treatment from suppliers because of that.

This puts Apple in a better spot to weather this shortage than every other company on earth.

Time to collectively take a deep breath and relax that unnecessary tension in our sphincters.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wanha Avatar
59 months ago

There’s only a chip shortage because of demand, so why not set up infrastructure so we’re able to build more chips here in the U.S.
The fundamental problem is that in the year 2000, there were about 30 companies that made their own integrated circuits.

Then, they discovered that it's a lot cheaper to outsource, and now we have only a handful of companies producing chips while the demand is higher than it has ever been. Even AMD outsource their actual chip manufacturing to companies like TSMC.

To combat this, Intel and TSMC have both just recently announced plans to invest a lot of money ($20 and $100 billion, respectively) to increase capacity to meet demand. Intel is also planning to open its doors to other manufacturers, like TSMC and Samsung are already doing.

TL;DR version: investments are being made to combat the chip shortage, but it will take some time (probably going well into 2022) before the increased capacity becomes available.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
James Godfrey Avatar
59 months ago
I have to highlight the following line from the article:

‘As a result of the delay, Apple has pushed back a portion of component orders for the two devices from the first half of this year to the second half, the people said.’

With this statement, I assume apple has merely just reduced its order size down a bit to relieve the pressure, now in regards to how much this has been reduced hasn’t actually been released, this could just be 10% reduction, which will have a small impact on availability after initial launch.

This article in no way means a launch isn’t still happening, it just means after the initial stock has gone, consumers might be waiting a while to receive their new iPads.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vagos Avatar
59 months ago
So glad I went for the MBA M1 and did not wait for the MBP later this year.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)