Not stocking enough for your MacBook Pro? Why is Apple always out of stock?

Text | Jaly

After the supply crisis of iPhone, AirPods, and iPad, Apple's new MacBook Pro was also exposed to a large-scale shortage.

On May 10, Apple's official website showed that the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops were mostly out of stock in 12 Apple physical retail stores across the country. There is news that Apple's new MacBook Pro has a serious supply crisis.

In this regard, the relevant account manager of Apple China told the Securities Daily reporter: "Due to special circumstances and better sales conditions, the new MacBook Pro does have insufficient inventory, and the delivery cycle is extended." ”

A person close to Apple's supply chain revealed that under the multiple influences of rising demand and phased shutdowns in some factories, the scheduling period of the new MacBook Pro has reached July this year, delayed by more than a month and a half.

12 retail stores across the country are out of stock in large areas

The shipment period was extended to 45 days

From Apple's official website, at present, Apple has 12 physical retail stores in China that can provide door-to-door pickup services for the new MacBook Pro, of which 5 are in Beijing. At present, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros in these stores are mostly out of stock. Among them, the 14-inch MacBook Pro has 2 configurations, only 16GB, 1TB configuration of the product is available in The Tianjin store, the others are not available; the 16-inch MacBook Pro has 3 configurations, only 16GB, 1TB configuration of the product in Tianjin and Beijing each 1 store is sold, the other is also out of stock.

At the same time, through Apple's official booking of these two series of products, the delivery period is from June 30 to July 14. That said, the current shipping cycle for bookings for a new MacBook Pro is 7-9 weeks, which can take up to 2 months.

"Now in a special period, there are force majeure factors in the delivery process, even if consumers book products in advance, they may not be able to deliver them in time." For the supply and delivery situation, the above-mentioned Apple account manager told reporters. However, he said that for orders that have been booked, Apple generally does not cut orders.

In addition, at present, in some e-commerce channels, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro are only a small number of goods. On second-hand platforms such as Idle Fish, these two unopened new products are even sold by some merchants plus prices ranging from hundreds of yuan to thousands of yuan.

The elongation of the shipment period has surprised many suppliers. A supplier leader told reporters that the MacBook Pro currently sold in the e-commerce channel is this previous inventory product. "Recently, we have not been able to buy goods, but we are very passive in the peak sales season."

Wang Haoyu, managing director of Junshan and general manager of the capital market, said that the shipping period of the new MacBook Pro has been extended from 30 days to 45 days. Whether the new product stock is expected to improve or not, it is necessary to continue to observe the resumption of production of suppliers and the actual impact of supply chain-related factors.

In fact, not only the MacBook Pro, but also the industrial chain of many Apple products have been tightly supplied. "At present, the shortage of goods caused by the obstruction of some supply chains has not improved, and the Apple iPhone has not been affected by the smooth operation of the Zhengzhou factory of the largest assembler Hon Hai, but the current supply situation of the Macbook Pro is more chaotic, becoming the most damaged Apple product line under this wave of the epidemic." Wang Haoyu said.

The supplier of the product system is relatively single

Crisis gradually emerging?

In the industry's view, the macBook Pro's unexpected performance and supplier capacity shortage and other factors are the reasons for the large-scale shortage of MacBook Pro.

Ma Jihua, founder and chief analyst of Beijing Darui Management Consulting Company, believes that Apple's two series of products have been in a state of "short supply" since their release, on the one hand, because of the increase in online office and conference caused by the global epidemic, the demand for notebook categories has been boosted; on the other hand, based on the uncertain judgment of the global economic situation, Apple manufacturers intend to "suppress" orders, production capacity and inventory to ensure the company's financial and cash flow security, and the spot shortage has intensified.

In addition, Quanta, the largest foundry of Apple's MacBook Pro products, issued an announcement on April 13, saying that its Shanghai factory was temporarily suspended. However, according to relevant information, the plant resumed work in mid-April. Quanta said it is prioritizing the recovery of the MacBook Pro computer production line and making every effort to speed up production, and it is expected to recover the shipment progress in the second half of the second quarter of this year.

Quanta covers about three-quarters of apple's foundry capacity for MacBook notebooks. The relatively single suppliers used in a single product and the relatively concentrated share make its supply system extremely vulnerable to obstruction, which is a problem exposed by Apple in emergencies such as the epidemic, and it is also trying to adjust its strategy to alleviate and introduce more enterprises, including Chinese companies, to diversify risks. Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, believes.

It is understood that at present, there is a certain degree of supply shortage of key components such as Apple chips, screens, and memory, and poor transportation and production interruptions in some foundries have affected Apple's supply system. Jiang Han expects that the tight supply of apple's high-end new products will continue until the third quarter of this year.

Ma Jihua suggested that relevant industrial chain enterprises need to carry out comprehensive responses, not only to ensure supply and production, increase production efforts for Apple products, but also to do a comprehensive scheduling. "This moderately tight production cycle is the window period for enterprises to improve the discourse power of the industrial chain and achieve diversified services, reduce the risk of 'putting eggs in one basket', and take into account short-term benefits and long-term strategic interests."