Supply Constraints Cost Apple $6 Billion in Q4 2021
Apple's revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2021 came in under expectations, which Apple CEO Tim Cook said was caused by supply constraints on iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
In an interview with CNBC, Cook said the supply issues cost Apple around $6 billion.
"We had a very strong performance despite larger than expected supply constraints, which we estimate to be around $6 billion," Cook told CNBC's Josh Lipton. "The supply constraints were driven by the industry wide chip shortages that have been talked about a lot, and COVID-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast Asia."
For the last several months of the year, Apple has experienced long lead times on multiple products, including Macs and iPads. With the iPhone 13 launch, available models sold out quickly and Apple has been unable to keep up with demand, and the same goes for the Apple Watch Series 7.
Going forward, Cook said that he expects "solid year-over-year revenue growth" in the December quarter, but Apple will to continue facing supply problems. COVID related manufacturing problems have "improved greatly," but Cook says that chip shortages "linger on." According to Cook, older chips are the ones that are in short supply rather than newer A and M-series chips used in newer Apple devices.
Cook said that Apple primarily buys leading-edge nodes and is not having issues with those, but on legacy codes, there is competition from many different companies on supply. He said that he isn't sure when supply will improve as it is difficult to forecast when things will balance. Apple's operational team is working to cut down on cycle ties and improve yields to remedy the situation.
During the quarterly earnings call, Apple CFO Luca Maestri confirmed that the impact of supply constraints will be greater in the December quarter. iPad sales will drop year over year due to the supply constraints, but Apple expects revenue in all other categories will grow.
Popular Stories
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent.
A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect.
The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design.
It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information.
Relocated Charging Port
While the Magic Mouse switched from...
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect.
There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things.
Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3.
Mac users can download the macOS Sequoia update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15.
With...
