Apple’s global supply chain remains tied up and you could wind up waiting several weeks to have your new iPad delivered as a new report corroborates that Apple has been prioritizing iPhone deliveries over iPads.
According to Nikkei Asia, Apple customers may have to wait up to nine weeks to get a new iPad. The publication says it has been tracking the delivery times for Apple products in 25 countries and regions, including the US, China, and Japan, since early November.
The article cited that customers who had ordered a 64GB iPad can wait up to 50 days to receive one. The publication noted that this is a “slight improvement from the 55-day delivery times for iPad orders placed in early December.”
During Apple’s earnings reports last week, CEO Tim Cook addressed this issue in a Q&A with journalists saying that March should look better than December.
“For March, we’re saying that we will have less constraints than we had in the December quarter. If you look at the commonality between different products, there is some, but generally the challenge is on legacy nodes, and these legacy nodes are by supplier. And so it’s much more focused on the supplier than anything else. Versus us, you know, behind the curtain, finding a place to take it. There’s not none of that, there is some of that, but largely we have to take it wherever the shortages are.”
As Apple is rumored to hold an event in late March or April, it will be interesting to see whether the company will be able to unveil and ship a new iPad Air model or if the supply constraints will still complicate Apple’s plans.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via 9to5Mac and Nikkei Asia