Chipset shortage is a thing of 2021. Smartphone brands cannot meet the consumer’s demands amid the shortage of chips, and analyst thinks that the shortage might extend to 2022. But have you noticed that Apple iPhones are always available in stores? We’ve never heard about Apple cribbing about the shortage. And not only that, Apple planned its chip transition in this chaos.
According to a new report from Wave7 Research, a firm that reports on the US mobile-phone market every month, Apple was intelligent in predicting chip shortage well before other OEMs realized it. “Sources have told Wave7 Research that Apple was able to lock down chipset supply well ahead of time. This was not the case for other OEMs,” says Jeff Moore, principal at Wave7.
The shortage is very uneven, according to the report. It’s “uneven by the carrier, channel, and even by store,” the Wave7 report says. AT&T is the least affected by the chip shortage since it sells most iPhones. But carriers like T-Mobile, which sells smartphones from all brands, including OnePlus, say the drought affects “everybody but Apple.”
“iPhone share overall did not fall in July, as might be expected ahead of a September iPhone launch. Ongoing iPhone 12 resilience and issues with Samsung inventory were the top factors for this.”
Interestingly, the problem expands from carriers and OEMs to even smartphone models. According to the Wave7 report, Samsung’s flagship smartphones aren’t experiencing shortages. At the same time, Galaxy A02s, the Note 20, the Galaxy A01, the Galaxy A21, and the Galaxy A51 are all out of stock from Verizon to the report.
“The Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy S21 Ultra were the top sellers for Samsung in the July survey.”
OnePlus might also be affected due to the chip shortage. Nord N200 was the number 1 smartphone in Metro stores in July, capturing a 20% share. But its share fell to 10% in August “amid short supply of certain OnePlus devices.”
But, at the same time, at T-Mobile, the chip shortage has been a blessing in disguise for OnePlus. OnePlus has reached a share of 8% at T-Mobile, an all-time high.
“The shortage of Samsung phones has helped cement OnePlus’ position as the top Android alternative,” the report says.
Whatever the case, the chip shortage will likely extend to next year. It might be the reason for the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE delay and might cause a problem in the launch of upcoming smartphones.
