Chip shortages and manufacturing disruptions cost Apple $6 billion during Q4 2021
Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed that supply constraints cost Apple $6 billion in the September quarter, which saw a quarterly revenue record of $83.4 billion, up 29 percent year over year.
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Cook said Apple saw larger than expected supply constraints driven by the global chip shortage, with COVID-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast Asia adding to constraints in manufacturing that cost the company in Q4 2021, despite “strong sales performance.
“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.”
“This year we launched our most powerful products ever, from M1-powered Macs to an iPhone 13 lineup that is setting a new standard for performance and empowering our customers to create and connect in new ways,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO in a press release shared to the online Apple Newsroom on Thursday. “We are infusing our values into everything we make — moving closer to our 2030 goal of being carbon neutral up and down our supply chain and across the lifecycle of our products, and ever advancing our mission to build a more equitable future.”