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There was a time when the US tech giants were all in China – even Facebook. Today, Apple’s huge presence in the country looks increasingly conspicuous.

Last week Microsoft, which still operates in China, announced it was to shut down its social network, LinkedIn, there.

The company said having to comply with the Chinese state had become increasingly challenging – so it pulled the plug.

Apple has its own censorship problems in the country.

The BBC reported last week that two popular religious apps had been removed from Apple’s App Store.

It later emerged that Amazon-owned Audible and the Yahoo Finance app had also been taken down.

Apple Censorship, a group that monitors the App Store, says it has seen an increase in apps that have been removed this month.

So what is going on?

The great tech crackdown
It is notoriously hard to gauge what’s happening behind closed doors in Beijing.

Still, what is becoming increasingly clear is that Apple and Microsoft are embroiled in a domestic battle between the authorities and the Chinese tech industry.

China has its own big tech titans – Tencent, Alibaba and Huawei – that are enormous global companies. But the Chinese government has grown worried about the power they wield.

In April, Alibaba accepted a record $2.8bn (£2bn) fine after an investigation found that it had abused its dominant market position
In August, the Chinese government unveiled a five-year plan outlining tighter regulation of the tech economy
It’s also been cracking down on Bitcoin
American companies haven’t been spared from the “great tech crackdown”.

“The crackdown suggests that both Apple and Microsoft are very aware that their position is more tenuous than it’s been in recent years. They know they need to walk carefully,” says James Griffiths, author of The Great Firewall of China.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for Microsoft appears to be a law due to come into force on 1 November – the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) – which would have required the company to comply with more regulation.

Microsoft alludes to it a in statement explaining its decision to pull LinkedIn: “We’re facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.”

Graham Webster, editor-in-chief of the DigiChina Project at Stanford University, said: “I think they decided it just wasn’t worth it.”

Mr Webster links the decision to say goodbye to LinkedIn to forthcoming enforcement of the PIPL.

The devil’s bargain
Apple, however, has a different set of priorities in China to Microsoft.

It is deeply entangled in the country, far more so than any other US tech company.

In the last quarter, Apple made nearly $15bn in revenue in China and Taiwan – an extraordinary figure.

Its global supply chain also depends on Chinese manufacturing. And to be in China, Apple knows it has to play by the country’s rules – even if that means censorship.

You might ask: why doesn’t Apple just sell hardware in China, and forget about the App Store?

The problem is, Apple believes the App Store and the iPhone are inseparable. It doesn’t want to set a precedent of side-loading apps, where people can download apps on an iPhone away from the App Store.

For one thing, it would make considerably less money.

So if Apple is going to sell products in China, keeping the App Store operational in that country is deemed essential.

“Apple has been removing apps and essentially censoring the App Store in one way or another for years,” Mr Webster says.

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But Mr Griffiths argues that censorship has slowly grown stricter during Apple’s time in the country.

“​Apple has set itself a devil’s bargain here,” he says.

“Once you start to agree to remove apps, it doesn’t really stop.”

Secret strategies
Other companies saw the writing on the wall earlier than Microsoft.

Google removed its search engine from China in 2010, after what it said was a Chinese hacking attack. The company said it was no longer happy to censor searches.

Rebecca Fannin, author of Silicon Dragons, believes Microsoft’s pulling of LinkedIn now makes Apple a “big target”.

But she thinks Apple is going to fight to stay in China.

“You know Apple is really one of the market leaders in China… I don’t see Apple pulling out of China over any of these issues any time soon,” she says.

What we don’t know are the conversations that are going on behind closed doors between Apple and the Chinese authorities.

Perhaps Apple does push back, and maybe many apps are still up and live on the App Store in China because Apple stood up for them. We don’t know.

Apple rarely comments on these stories, and points journalists to its human rights policy, which states it will follow the laws of the countries it operates in – even if it disagrees with them.

And in China, they’ve been doing just that.

When the authorities really want an app taken down, it gets removed.

Apple’s presence in the country now feels almost like a hangover from another era. Big Tech simply doesn’t have much of a presence in China any more.

The question now is how much regulation, how much compliance – and how much censorship – is too much?

Almost 45 million people in the UK were targeted by scam text messages or phone calls over the summer, according to telecoms regulator Ofcom.

About half reported getting a scam call or text at least once a week.

A survey of 2,000 adults in September found that almost a million people had been misled by a message or a call which they received.

Text scams are most common among 16 to 34-year-olds, with two-thirds receiving one between June and August.

The elderly are more often targeted using their landlines, with 61% of those over 75 receiving a scam phone call, but all ages are at risk.

UK residents who believe they have been targeted, or are the victim of a scam, can report a text message by forwarding it to 7726 – the numbers on the keypad that have the letters for spam on them.

However, Ofcom found that 79% of mobile phone users were unaware of that service.

Scam calls should be reported to Action Fraud.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s networks and communications group director, urged the public not to reply to messages which do not seem quite right.

“Criminals who defraud people using phone and text scams can cause huge distress and financial harm to their victims, and their tactics are becoming increasingly sophisticated,” she said.

“Stay alert to any unsolicited contact. Put the phone down if you have any suspicion that it is a scam call, and don’t click on any links in text messages you’re unsure about.”

Almost 45 million people in the UK were targeted by scam text messages or phone calls over the summer, according to telecoms regulator Ofcom.

About half reported getting a scam call or text at least once a week.

A survey of 2,000 adults in September found that almost a million people had been misled by a message or a call which they received.

Text scams are most common among 16 to 34-year-olds, with two-thirds receiving one between June and August.

The elderly are more often targeted using their landlines, with 61% of those over 75 receiving a scam phone call, but all ages are at risk.

UK residents who believe they have been targeted, or are the victim of a scam, can report a text message by forwarding it to 7726 – the numbers on the keypad that have the letters for spam on them.

However, Ofcom found that 79% of mobile phone users were unaware of that service.

Scam calls should be reported to Action Fraud.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s networks and communications group director, urged the public not to reply to messages which do not seem quite right.

“Criminals who defraud people using phone and text scams can cause huge distress and financial harm to their victims, and their tactics are becoming increasingly sophisticated,” she said.

“Stay alert to any unsolicited contact. Put the phone down if you have any suspicion that it is a scam call, and don’t click on any links in text messages you’re unsure about.”

Apple has unveiled its M1Pro and M1Max chips used to power new MacBook Pro laptop computers.

Apple says the M1 Max chip, with 57 billion transistors is the most powerful it has ever built.

The new chips were announced almost a year after the firm revealed its first Mac computers powered by silicon of its own design.

It comes after reports that Apple cut its iPhone 13 production targets amid the global computer chip shortage.

Industry analyst Mikako Kitagawa of Gartner said “the performance boost is pretty impressive”.

Apple claims the new chips will achieve comparable performance to the latest 8-core PC laptop chip running at top speed while using 70% of the power.

Going flat-out the chip, the company claimed, would be up to 1.7 times faster than the 8-core PC chip.

Such claims have not yet been independently verified.

Apple’s chips are sometimes referred to as being ‘Arm-based’ because it licenses the instruction sets from the British-based company of that name.

These instruction sets determine how processors handle commands. However, the core processor circuits are of Apple’s own design.

For years Apple has used chips designed by Intel. The move to designing its own silicon has been positive for the firm, says Ben Wood, chief analyst of CCS Insight.

“The advent of Apple Silicon has been a shot in the arm for the MacBook line-up,” he said.

The two chips power the new 14in and 16in MacBook Pro laptops and a new operating system, macOS Monterey.

In the “Unleashed” launch presentation Apple stressed the MacBook’s power and long battery life.

There has been a sense, one analyst said, that workers in creative industries are starting to drift away from the Macbook Pro.

But they would find the new machines appealing, according to Ms Kitagawa. “Apple is really defending the creative professional market which is their core market,” she said.

The MacBooks were unveiled at a time when the company has warned of the impact of the global chip shortage.

Previously Apple boss Tim Cook said that the issue could affect products using M1 chips. Recent reports suggest that the shortage might hit iPhone 13 production.

Apple designed-silicon will not, Ben Wood says, insulate the company from the shortage.

“The fact that Apple has designed its own chips does not necessarily mean it is immune from the wider chipset shortages,” he said.

“There is little doubt it will be in a strong position to secure supply, but ultimately the overall shortage of semiconductors comes down to manufacturing capacity.”

Ms Kitagawa also noted that as dedicated graphics chips (GPUs) are in short supply, the new MacBook Pros may be “more immune to the shortage as the machine does not have discrete graphics: one less component that they need to worry about.”

MagSafe returns
The new laptops reverse a much-criticised Apple design decision.

In particular the abandonment of Magsafe – a magnetically secured power-supply that releases with a firm pull.

Ben Wood said, “many users will be ecstatic that the MagSafe power connector has returned. When you’ve invested a small fortune in a MacBook, the last thing you want is for a careless trip over a power cable to see it crashing off the desk onto the floor.”

Executives at Amazon, including founder Jeff Bezos, may have misled or lied to Congress about the firm’s business practices, top US lawmakers have said.

The members of the House Judiciary Committee said they were considering referring the firm “for criminal investigation”.

It follows an investigation by Reuters that claimed Amazon copied products and rigged its search results in India to boost sales of its own brands .

Amazon strongly denies the allegations.

“Amazon and its executives did not mislead the committee, and we have denied and sought to correct the record on the inaccurate media articles in question,” a spokesperson said.

On Monday, five members of the US House Judiciary Committee wrote to Amazon boss Andy Jassy, who succeeded Mr Bezos in July.

They said “credible reporting” by Reuters and recent articles in other news outlets “directly contradicts the sworn testimony and representations of Amazon’s top executives – including former CEO Jeffrey Bezos”.

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“At best, this reporting confirms that Amazon’s representatives misled the Committee. At worst, it demonstrates that they may have lied to Congress in possible violation of federal criminal law,” the letter states.

Continued investigations
Since 2019, the House Judiciary Committee has been investigating competition in digital markets, including how Amazon uses third party seller data from its platform, and whether the company unfairly favours its own products.

In sworn testimony before the Judiciary Committee’s anti-trust subcommittee last year, Mr Bezos said the firm forbids employees using data on individual sellers to benefit Amazon’s own-brand product lines.

In another hearing in 2019, Nate Sutton, Amazon’s associate general counsel, said the firm never used such data to create its own-branded products or manipulate its search results for private gain.

“The algorithms are optimised to predict what customers want to buy regardless of the seller,” he said.

However, Reuters’ investigation – which was based on thousands of pages of internal Amazon documents leaked to the news agency – contradicted these claims.

The news agency alleged that, in India at least, Amazon had a secret policy of manipulating search results to favour Amazon’s own products, as well as copying other sellers’ goods.

Reuters also claimed that at least two senior company executives were aware of the policy.

The lawmakers’ letter also cites other recent stories in the Markup, the Wall Street Journal and the Capitol Forum about Amazon’s private-brand products and use of seller data.

The lawmakers have given Mr Jassy until 1 November to provide evidence to corroborate the company’s previous testimony and statements.

Their letter also notes that “it is criminally illegal to knowingly and wilfully make statements that are materially false, conceal a material fact, or otherwise provide false documentation in response to a congressional investigation”.

‘Unsubstantiated’
“We strongly encourage you to make use of this opportunity to correct the record… as we consider whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate,” the letter states.

In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson called the claims made by Reuters and other media outlets “factually incorrect and unsubstantiated”.

They added: “As we have previously stated, we have an internal policy, which goes beyond that of any other retailer’s policy that we’re aware of, that prohibits the use of individual seller data to develop Amazon private label products.

“We investigate any allegations that this policy may have been violated and take appropriate action.”

Big tech companies including Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet have been under growing scrutiny in Washington, Europe and other parts of the world.

Regulators are concerned they have too much power and are engaging in unfair practices that hurt other businesses.

The lawmakers’ letter was signed by a bipartisan group including Democrats Jerrold Nadler, David Cicilline and Pramila Jayapal, and Republicans Ken Buck and Matt Gaetz.

In India on Monday, a trade group representing thousands of brick-and-mortar retailers has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action against Amazon.

The metaverse is a concept being talked about as the next big thing by tech companies, marketers, and analysts.

It’s attracting attention – and money – from some of of tech’s biggest names, such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney.

What is the metaverse?
To the outsider, it may look like a souped-up version of Virtual Reality (VR) – but some people think the metaverse could be the future of the internet.

In fact, the belief is that it could be to VR what the modern smartphone is to the first clunky mobile phones of the 1980s.

Instead of being on a computer, in the metaverse you might use a headset to enter a virtual world connecting all sorts of digital environments.

Unlike current VR, which is mostly used for gaming, this virtual world could be used for practically anything – work, play, concerts, cinema trips – or just hanging out.

Most people envision that you would have a 3D avatar – a representation of yourself – as you use it.

But because it’s still just an idea, there’s no single agreed definition of the metaverse.

Why is it suddenly a big thing?
Hype about digital worlds and augmented reality pops up every few years, but usually dies away.

However, there is a huge amount of excitement about the metaverse among wealthy investors and big tech firms, and no-one wants to be left behind if it turns out to be the future of the internet.

There’s also a feeling that for the first time, the technology is nearly there, with advancements in VR gaming and connectivity coming close to what might be needed.

Why is Facebook involved?
Facebook has made building the metaverse one of its big priorities.

It’s invested heavily in virtual reality through its Oculus headsets, making them cheaper than rivals – perhaps even at a loss, according to some analysts.

It’s also building VR apps for social hangouts and for the workplace, including ones that interact with the real world.

Despite its history of buying up rivals, Facebook claims the metaverse “won’t be built overnight by a single company” and has promised to collaborate.

It has recently invested $50m (£36.3m) in funding non-profit groups to help “build the metaverse responsibly”.

But it thinks the true metaverse idea will take another 10 to 15 years.

Who else is interested in the metaverse?
Mr Sweeney, the head of Epic Games (which makes Fortnite), has long spoken about his metaverse aspirations.

Online multiplayer games have had shared interactive worlds going back decades. They are not the metaverse, but have some ideas in common.

In recent years Fortnite expanded its product, hosting concerts, brand events, and more inside its own digital world. That impressed many with what was possible – and thrust Mr Sweeney’s vision of the metaverse into the spotlight.

Other games are getting closer to a metaverse idea, too. Roblox, for example, is a platform for thousands of individual games connected to the larger ecosystem.

Meanwhile, Unity, a 3D development platform, is investing in “digital twins” – digital copies of the real world – and the graphics company Nvidia is building its “Omniverse”, which it describes as a platform for connecting 3D virtual worlds.

So is it all about games?
No. Even though there are so many ideas about what the metaverse might be, most visions see social human interaction as the core.

Facebook, for example, has been experimenting with a VR meetings app called Workplace, and a social space called Horizons, both of which use their virtual avatar systems.

Another VR app, VRChat, is entirely focused around hanging out online and chatting – with no goal or purpose other than exploring environments and meeting people.

Other applications may be waiting out there, ready to be discovered.

Mr Sweeney recently told the Washington Post that he envisions a world where a car manufacturer trying to advertise a new model is “going to drop their car into the world in real time and you’ll be able to drive it around”.

Perhaps when you go online shopping, you’ll try on digital clothes first, and then order them to arrive in the real world.

Does the technology exist yet?
VR has come a long way in recent years, with high-end headsets which can trick the human eye into seeing in 3D as the player moves around a virtual world. It has become more mainstream, too – the Oculus Quest 2 VR gaming headset was a popular Christmas gift in 2020.

The explosion of interest in NFTs, which may provide a way to reliably track ownership of digital goods, could point to how a virtual economy would work.

And more advanced digital worlds will need better, more consistent, and more mobile connectivity – something that might be solved with the rollout of 5G.

For now, though, everything is in the early stages. The evolution of the metaverse – if it happens at all – will be fought among tech giants for the next decade, or maybe even longer.

Apple has taken down one of the world’s most popular Quran apps in China, following a request from officials.

Quran Majeed is available across the world on the App Store – and has nearly 150,000 reviews. It is used by millions of Muslims.

The BBC understands that the app was removed for hosting illegal religious texts.

The Chinese government has not responded to the BBC’s request for comment.

The deletion of the app was first noticed by Apple Censorship – a website that monitors apps on Apple’s App Store globally.

In a statement from the app’s maker, PDMS, the company said: “According to Apple, our app Quran Majeed has been removed from the China App store because it includes content that requires additional documentation from Chinese authorities”.

“We are trying to get in touch with the Cyberspace Administration of China and relevant Chinese authorities to get this issue resolved”.

The company said it had close to one million users in China.

The Chinese Communist Party officially recognises Islam as a religion in the country.

However, China has been accused of human rights violations, and even genocide, against the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic group in Xinjiang.

Earlier this year the BBC reported that Uyghur imams had been targeted in China’s Xinjiang crackdown.

Apple declined to comment, but directed the BBC to its Human Rights Policy, which states: “We’re required to comply with local laws, and at times there are complex issues about which we may disagree with governments.”

However, it is not clear what rules the app has broken in China. Quran Majeed says it is “trusted by over 35 million Muslims globally”.

Last month, both Apple and Google removed a tactical voting app devised by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Russian authorities had threatened to fine the two companies if they refused to drop the app, which told users who could unseat ruling party candidates.

China is one of Apple’s biggest markets, and the company’s supply chain is heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has been accused of hypocrisy from politicians in the US for speaking out about American politics, but staying quiet about China.

Mr Cook criticised Donald Trump’s ban of seven Muslim-majority countries in 2017.

However, he is also accused of complying with the Chinese government over censorship – and not publicly criticising it for its treatment of Muslim minorities.

The New York Times reported earlier this year that Apple takes down apps in China if deemed off limits by the Chinese government. Topics that apps cannot discuss include Tiananmen Square, the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama, and independence for Tibet and Taiwan.

Benjamin Ismail, project director at Apple Censorship, said: “Currently Apple is being turned into the censorship bureau of Beijing.

“They need to do the right thing, and then face whatever the reaction is of the Chinese government.”

Another popular religious app, Olive Tree’s Bible app, was also taken down this week in China. The company told the BBC they had removed the app themselves.

“Olive Tree Bible Software was informed during the App Store review process that we are required to provide a permit demonstrating our authorization to distribute an app with book or magazine content in mainland China,” said a spokesperson.

“Since we did not have the permit and needed to get our app update approved and out to customers, we removed our Bible app from China’s App Store.”

On Friday, The Mac Observer reported that Audible, the Amazon owned audiobook and podcast service, removed its app from the Apple store in mainland China last month “due to permit requirements.”

On Thursday, Microsoft said it was shutting down its social network, LinkedIn, in China, saying having to comply with the Chinese state had become increasingly challenging.

The decision was made after the career-networking site faced questions for blocking the profiles of some journalists.

Microsoft is shutting down its social network, LinkedIn, in China, saying having to comply with the Chinese state has become increasingly challenging.

It comes after the career-networking site faced questions for blocking the profiles of some journalists.

LinkedIn will launch a jobs-only version of the site, called InJobs, later this year.

But this will not include a social feed or the ability to share or post articles.

LinkedIn senior vice-president Mohak Shroff blogged: “We’re facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.”

And the firm said in a statement: “While we are going to sunset the localised version of LinkedIn in China later this year, we will continue to have a strong presence in China to drive our new strategy and are excited to launch the new InJobs app later this year.”

‘Gross appeasement’
LinkedIn had been the only major Western social-media platform operating in China.

When it launched there, in 2014, it had agreed to adhere to the requirements of the Chinese government in order to operate there, but also promised to be transparent about how it conducted business in the country and said it disagreed with government censorship.

Recently, LinkedIn blacklisted several journalist accounts, including those of Melissa Chan and Greg Bruno, from its China-based website.

Mr Bruno, who has written a book documenting China’s treatment of Tibetan refugees, told Verdict he was not surprised the Chinese Communist Party did not like it but was “dismayed that an American tech company is caving into the demands of a foreign government”.

US senator Rick Scott called the move a “gross appeasement and an act of submission to Communist China”, in a letter to LinkedIn chief executive Ryan Roslansky and Microsoft boss Satya Nadella.

2px presentational grey line
China’s internet roams further adrift
Zhaoyin Feng, BBC News, Washington

It’s hard to pinpoint whether LinkedIn’s move was driven by the pressure from China, or that from the US. It could be both, as the Chinese government has been tightening its grip over the internet, and meanwhile, LinkedIn has drawn growing criticism in America for bowing to Beijing’s censorship rules.

LinkedIn launched its Chinese version in 2014, hoping to tap into the country’s huge market.

Seven years on, it has struggled against local competitors and run into regulatory problems. In March, LinkedIn was reportedly punished by the Chinese regulator for failing to censor political content, resulting in a suspension of new user registration for 30 days. Other than controversy over censorships, the platform has been used by Chinese intelligence agencies as a recruitment tool.

In a letter to the platform’s users in China today, President of LinkedIn China Lu Jian pledges that the site will continue to “connect global business opportunities”.

But LinkedIn’s shutdown in China shows an opposite trend. The country’s heavily controlled internet has drifted further away from the rest of the world, and it’s increasingly challenging for global business operating in China to bridge the deep divide.

Apple’s shares dropped on Tuesday following reports it could slash its iPhone 13 production targets due to the ongoing global computer chip shortage.

The electronic giant had expected to make 90 million iPhones in the last quarter of 2021, reported Bloomberg.

However, Apple was now having to tell its partners that the total will be lower by as many as 10 million units, sources told the business magazine.

Apple shares fell 1.2% in after-hours trading on the news.

Semiconductor manufacturers Broadcom and Texas Instruments were also down 1%, as sources said they were struggling to deliver enough chips to Apple in time.

The BBC has approached Apple, Broadcom and Texas Instruments for comment.

In September, Apple launched four new iPhone 13 models: iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Pre-orders started on 17 September and started shipping on 24 September.

Widespread chip shortage
Millions of products across multiple industries today rely on computer chips to run and semiconductor makers’ plants are currently working flat-out to meet demand.

Smartphone makers like Apple – some of the biggest chip purchasers in the world – have been severely impacted, but also other sectors like the car industry and the makers of video game consoles.

In July, Apple chief executive Tim Cook warned investors that the semiconductor shortage could affect sales of the iPhone and the iPad.

Investment firm Wedbush estimates that Apple will be running a shortage of more than five million iPhone 13 units for the holiday season, if consumer demand continues to keep pace with the number of iPhones being shipped for the rest of this year.

However, Wedbush analysts Daniel Ives and John Katsingris stressed that the chip shortage was a “not a worry” as they expected the smartphones to be available in the early part of 2022.

“Taking a step back, 5 million to 10 million units moving out of the December quarter into the March quarter due to well-understood supply chain issues is not a worry for us and ultimately speaks to a stronger demand trajectory than Wall Street had been anticipating,” they said.

“We view today’s news as nothing more than a speed bump on a multi-year supercycle iPhone 12/13 that continues to play out.”

Their views are shared by several other analysts, who have forecast that the new iPhone 13 models will have a strong sales year as consumers look to upgrade devices for 5G networks.

Apple’s shares dropped on Tuesday following reports it could slash its iPhone 13 production targets due to the ongoing global computer chip shortage.

The electronic giant had expected to make 90 million iPhones in the last quarter of 2021, reported Bloomberg.

However, Apple was now having to tell its partners that the total will be lower by as many as 10 million units, sources told the business magazine.

Apple shares fell 1.2% in after-hours trading on the news.

Apple iPhone 13 brings portrait mode for video
Why is there a chip shortage?
Semiconductor manufacturers Broadcom and Texas Instruments were also down 1%, as sources said they were struggling to deliver enough chips to Apple in time.

The BBC has approached Apple, Broadcom and Texas Instruments for comment.

In September, Apple launched four new iPhone 13 models: iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Pre-orders started on 17 September and started shipping on 24 September.

Widespread chip shortage
Millions of products across multiple industries today rely on computer chips to run and semiconductor makers’ plants are currently working flat-out to meet demand.

Smartphone makers like Apple – some of the biggest chip purchasers in the world – have been severely impacted, but also other sectors like the car industry and the makers of video game consoles.

In July, Apple chief executive Tim Cook warned investors that the semiconductor shortage could affect sales of the iPhone and the iPad.

Investment firm Wedbush estimates that Apple will be running a shortage of more than five million iPhone 13 units for the holiday season, if consumer demand continues to keep pace with the number of iPhones being shipped for the rest of this year.

However, Wedbush analysts Daniel Ives and John Katsingris stressed that the chip shortage was a “not a worry” as they expected the smartphones to be available in the early part of 2022.

“Taking a step back, 5 million to 10 million units moving out of the December quarter into the March quarter due to well-understood supply chain issues is not a worry for us and ultimately speaks to a stronger demand trajectory than Wall Street had been anticipating,” they said.

“We view today’s news as nothing more than a speed bump on a multi-year supercycle iPhone 12/13 that continues to play out.”

Their views are shared by several other analysts, who have forecast that the new iPhone 13 models will have a strong sales year as consumers look to upgrade devices for 5G networks.