Apple is going big on iPhone 13 production – report

Apple is anticipating huge demand for the upcoming iPhone 13, if a new report from Bloomberg is to be believed. 

The site reports that Apple has ordered its suppliers to build up to 90 million iPhone 13 handsets this year, which is a steep 20% increase on the ~75 million smartphones the company usually requests. 

Despite all signs pointing to the iPhone 13 being an iterative update, there are a couple of key reasons for Apple’s bullishness. The main one is said to be the company’s belief that the successful rollout of Covid-19 vaccines will prompt a public more keen to upgrade their smartphone. 

A second reason, according to another source, is the ongoing troubles for Huawei which presents an opportunity for Apple. The Chinese company, dealt a severe blow by US sanctions that means it can’t use Google apps on its handsets, was until relatively recently the third biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world. It’s dropped catastrophically, but there’s clearly room for Apple to eat more of that market share as former buyers ponder where to go next. 

Of course, there are also reasons to suspect that Apple may be in for disappointment. Not only is the company set to persist with the ‘mini’ model of handset which appears to have underperformed with the iPhone 12 mini, but there are concerns that people will be loath to purchase a handset with ‘unlucky 13’ in the title. Indeed, a survey of over 3000 Apple customers found that a surprising one in five would be put off buying a product with ‘13’ in its name.

Though 3000 is a large sample, it’s still hard to draw conclusions, especially when some of those would undoubtedly put their triskaidekaphobia aside when push comes to shove. But if even a fraction of Apple’s target market decides to sit this generation out, or buy a product from a rival, then the company could find its early production optimism to be misplaced.