Apple changed its mind. So who's on the hook? | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
May 31, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2025
Apple changed its mind. So who's on the hook?

Panorama

Anjani Trivedi, Bloomberg
30 September, 2022, 01:00 pm
Last modified: 30 September, 2022, 01:12 pm

Related News

  • Apple blocked from selling iPhone 16 models in Indonesia
  • Microsoft challenges Apple as world's most valuable company
  • Apple’s reign as world’s top stock at risk from bumpy 2024 start
  • Huawei and Xiaomi are paving the way for an Apple EV
  • Apple working on fix for iPhone 15 models running hot

Apple changed its mind. So who's on the hook?

Apple changed its decision to increase production of its new iPhones this year. Not much of a setback for Apple, sure, but firms down the supply chain stand to feel the effects. It’s time the big companies started paying more attention. It isn’t that hard to keep everyone in the loop

Anjani Trivedi, Bloomberg
30 September, 2022, 01:00 pm
Last modified: 30 September, 2022, 01:12 pm
Apple changed its mind. So who's on the hook?

Apple Inc. is pulling back from plans to increase production of its new iPhones this year. Instead, it will produce about as many as the prior year, in line with its original forecast. Fair enough — a looming global recession and strong dollar probably mean consumers outside the US will feel the pinch if and when they set out to buy a new phone.

Apple had raised its sales projections in the weeks leading up to the iPhone 14's release, before reverting to its earlier forecast. So in theory, the retreat didn't massively move the needle for its own products. But the trickle-down effect is harder to manage. What happens to the supply chain and the hundreds of manufacturers depending on Apple for guidance? The latest news hit them hard, sending the shares of chipmakers and phone assemblers tumbling.

Demand for memory chips, a key component in smartphones and other electronics, was already showing signs of weakening months ago — receding from the pandemic boom when everyone was sitting at home glued to their devices. In December last year, analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. noted that the second-half outlook was "less certain" than the first due to weak demand for phones, TVs and consumer PCs. 

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Yet suppliers can still be caught off-guard when big customers alter their guidance, especially at short notice. It was only recently that some of Apple's suppliers had started making preparations for an expected 7% boost in orders.

Further down the chain, makers of the semiconductor production equipment used to make the chips — themselves victims of a bottleneck that squeezed output over the past two years — had been anticipating a pickup. Manufacturers in this $60 billion-plus industry were, as recently as July, expecting strong demand for memory and storage, with the market set to expand. 

Expenditures and investments weren't projected to go down until next year, according to the North American industry association. But then some of them began revising their budgets as they were asked to cancel deliveries by customers.

How is it that these industries — so deeply dependent on each other — aren't quite on the same page?

No wonder we've ended up with severe supply-chain snarls. It's delays like these — caused by failure to sync with the market and suppliers — that lead to intractable production issues and leave small manufacturers on the hook. While firms across the board try to gauge the correct levels of inventory and manage their product cycles, they end up either over- or under-ordering. Parts makers usually don't have long to adjust their operations.

The champion of supply-chain management, Toyota Motor Corp., recently started giving its massive network of component makers more time — to take the pressure off them, their profits and margins. That especially helps the hundreds of smaller firms — typically manufacturing just one or two components — that take the bulk of the cost pressures. Customers' moving targets can tip them into trouble very quickly.

Without such guidance, suppliers are left holding the bag. It's easy to say, you can't blame Apple — on a net basis, they didn't really change their production. But as supply-chain issues persist and firms struggle to align their operations while rapid technology shifts pull them in different directions, it's time the big companies started paying more attention. It isn't that hard to keep everyone in the loop.


Anjani Trivedi is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies in Asia. She previously worked for the Wall Street Journal.

Disclaimer: This article first appeared on Bloomberg and is published by a special syndication arrangement.

Features

Apple Inc

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Govt slashes June prices for diesel, petrol, octane
    Govt slashes June prices for diesel, petrol, octane
  • Illustration: TBS
    Tax-free income ceiling to be raised, slabs restructured
  • Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao signed the MoUs on behalf of their respective sides at a hotel in the capital today (31 May). Photo : PID
    Bangladesh, China sign two MoUs to boost bilateral trade

MOST VIEWED

  • BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
    BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
  • Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus speaks to Nikkei Asia in Tokyo on 29 May. Photo: Nikkei Asia
    Bangladesh ready to buy more US cotton, oil to reduce trade gap: Yunus
  • UCB approves 2024 financials, allocates entire profit to NPL provisions
    UCB approves 2024 financials, allocates entire profit to NPL provisions
  • Tax exemptions for key industries to go, sweeping tax hikes planned
    Tax exemptions for key industries to go, sweeping tax hikes planned
  • Matarbari 1,200MW coal-fired plant in Moheshkhali, Cox's Bazar. File Photo: Nupa Alam/TBS
    Supplier slapped with 5 conditions to unload rejected Matarbari coal shipment
  • US Embassy Dhaka. Picture: Courtesy
    Birth tourism not permitted on US visitor visa: US Embassy Dhaka

Related News

  • Apple blocked from selling iPhone 16 models in Indonesia
  • Microsoft challenges Apple as world's most valuable company
  • Apple’s reign as world’s top stock at risk from bumpy 2024 start
  • Huawei and Xiaomi are paving the way for an Apple EV
  • Apple working on fix for iPhone 15 models running hot

Features

Babar Ali, Ikramul Hasan Shakil, and Wasfia Nazreen are leading a bold resurgence in Bangladeshi mountaineering, scaling eight-thousanders like Everest, Annapurna I, and K2. Photos: Collected

Back to 8000 metres: How Bangladesh’s mountaineers emerged from a decade-long pause

1d | Panorama
Photos: Courtesy

Behind the looks: Bangladeshi designers shaping celebrity fashion

1d | Mode
Photo collage of the sailors and their catch. Photos: Shahid Sarkar

Between sky and sea: The thrilling life afloat on a fishing ship

1d | Features
For hundreds of small fishermen living near this delicate area, sustainable fishing is a necessity for their survival. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

World Ocean Day: Bangladesh’s ‘Silent Island’ provides a fisheries model for the future

2d | The Big Picture

More Videos from TBS

News of The Day, 31 MAY 2025

News of The Day, 31 MAY 2025

2h | TBS News of the day
Which way will the job crisis take the Chinese young generation?

Which way will the job crisis take the Chinese young generation?

3h | Others
How Banglalink is implementing Veon DO 1440

How Banglalink is implementing Veon DO 1440

1h | TBS Stories
What did Hasnat say about the NCP's seat sharing in the elections?

What did Hasnat say about the NCP's seat sharing in the elections?

3h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net