Apple generated record revenues of $83.4 billion in Q3 but would have made billions more without the supply chain problems punishing the global tech sector, reports Nikkei. The company’s revenue came off the back of increased sales of 5G iPhones, particularly in China.
The American technology giant warned of possible further headwinds in the current quarter ending December—usually its best-performing period. The just-ended quarter’s record showing came despite what Apple CEO Tim Cook called “larger-than-expected supply constraints” on an earnings call Thursday.
“We estimate these constraints had around a $6 billion revenue dollar impact, driven primarily by industrywide silicon shortages and COVID-related manufacturing disruptions,” he said. “But we believe that by the time we finish the [current] quarter, that the constraints will be larger than the 6 billion that we experienced” in the September quarter, the CEO added.
Cook blamed the supply constraints largely on the industrywide chip shortages and the coronavirus-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast Asia. The latter “improved materially across October,” he said, but the chip shortages continue.