, Columnist
IPhone Delay Interrupts That Supply Chain Rhythm
It used to run like clockwork. Now the cycle of reveal, sales, data and reaction is out of sync.
Apple’s Tim Cook and memories of Septembers past.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
For the first time since 2011, Apple Inc. didn’t release a version of its flagship iPhone in September. That delay has had a massive ripple effect through its network of vendors, which makes parsing supply-chain data even more challenging than usual.
Since at least March, we knew that the next installment of the iconic device would be pushed back due to Covid-19. The pandemic initially hit manufacturing lines in China, but continued to impact the rest of the global lineup of companies that contribute to the product, all the way back to the team that develops it in Cupertino.