It seems that the ongoing chip shortage has also started to affect Apple. A report from The Elec claims that Apple supplier BOE is having a hard time producing OLED panels for iPhones due to the ongoing situation that has affected the tech world. And it seems that this issue won’t be gone that fast, as it could impact production in February and March.

According to a report from The Elec, Apple’s iPhone display production is being affected by the global ship shortage, as BOE is having issues getting display driver ICs for Apple’s iPhone display panels. LX Semicon provides these drivers, and it seems that the company can’t deliver the necessary components to keep up with the demand. Further, it seems that LX Seminon has also decided to prioritize supplying its display components to LG Display, while leaving BOE waiting.

The shortage will affect production this month and next month, sources said.

BOE procures display driver ICs for the panels from South Korean chip firm LX Semicon.

But LX Semicon’s production volume is falling short of the planned amount, sources said.

The South Korean firm, due to the lack of production capacity from foundries, is supplying its display driver ICs first to LG Display, its other customer besides BOE, they said.

In other words, BOE would be forced to drop its OLED panel production from 3 million to two million units next month. Naturally, this would directly affect Apple’s iPhone production, as Cupertino allegedly ordered 10 million OLED panels from BOE, who had to deliver them in the first half of 2022. However, we are not even halfway through Q1 2022, so it is unclear how this shortage may affect iPhone supply and production, if at all.

Apple already faced some supply issues with the current iPhone 13 lineup, as some models were available in limited quantities after their announcement back in September 2022. However, it’s been a while since that happened, and Cupertino has already managed the situation with flying colors, as the iPhone 13 models are available for next-day delivery in most markets around the world. So this shortage may not be such a pain in Apple’s plans after all.

Source: The Elec