Apple’s MacBook Pro manufacturing slammed by COVID
This is an Apple factory in Texas
Apple warned of supply chain constraints during its last fiscal call, and as China continues to battle COVID-19 it appears the company’s MacBook Pro manufacturing production lines may be feeling the pressure. Sadly, given the company’s increasing market share in a declining industry.
Report claims manufacturing down to 30%
Digitimes reports that Quanta Computer’s production capacity for MacBook Pros at its Shanghai, China site has still not been fully restored, warning that customers who order new machines may not get them until mid-July.
The report continues to claim production is down to around 30% of capacity, and the company aims to push this to 50% over time.
The report also cites problems further down the Apple supply chain, as supply of what the company calls “legacy nodes” continues to be a problem.
The company is doing what it can to address these problems – it’s flying batches of new Macs into distribution rather than relying on surface freight, for example, but manufacturing and logistical problems remain. All the same, as recently as last week the Mac rumor sites reported shipment delays.
[Also read: If you can’t beat ‘Grey IT’, just manage it]
Problems seem to be increasing
China’s battle to defeat the killer virus is creating vast problems in the country.
Workers don’t want to take positions in the factories and weeks of lockdown in China mean many employees simply can’t make it in. This is explained best in this report.
Resistance is also growing as the Chinese population becomes increasingly frustrated. In Shanghai, Apple’s Mac factory workers rioted in protest at being locked in the factory for weeks.
In related news, reports this weekend suggest Apple intends combining the iPad and Mac experiences more closely together, delivering a refined user interface like the Mac when a keyboard is connected.
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