Apple punishes two of its iPhone assemblers which could lead to a tight market for the device
Wistron is the second iPhone assembler punished by Apple. In November, Pegatron was discovered to have violated local labor laws. The company was also placed on probation and banned from obtaining new business from Apple until it fixes its problems. The manufacturer was accused of falsifying documentation allowing some student workers to work nights and overtime, and perform work not related to their major. And to make matters worse, Pegatron and those involved supposedly went to “extraordinary lengths” to cover up the violations.
Tightness in the iPhone market could also be caused by other factors other than supply chain suspensions and pandemics. Supply and demand play an important role in determining how tight or soft a product’s market is. Demand doesn’t seem to be an issue for Apple as some analysts forecast a record number of iPhone shipments next year. The current peak was set in 2015 when 231 million handsets were delivered by Apple. Some Wall Street firms are calling for Apple to ship as many as 250 million phones next year. Of course, this figure does not take into account the possibility of an iPhone shortage.
The iPhone 13 is expected to be offered in the same four sizes: a 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini, a 6.1-inch iPhone 13, a 6.1-inch iPhone Pro and a 6.7-inch iPhone Pro Max. Powered by the 5nm A15 Bionic SoC, Apple could equip the Pro models with a 120Hz rapid refresh display to smother scrolling and animation. Despite the use of LPTO for the screen, which automatically reduces the refresh rate based on screen content, Apple might still want to hike the battery capacity on the new models.
