Why This Apple Product Is Facing Tightest Supply Situation

Component shortages and production disruptions have come to haunt consumer electronics companies, and Apple, Inc. AAPL seems to be no exception.

Most Lead Times Stable: Lead time, the time between the placing of an order and delivery of the product, has remained stable for most Apple products between April and May, Loup Funds co-founder Gene Munster said in a note.

Apple is mentioning an average lead time of 11 days for the products it launched last fall and two new products launched in the Spring of 2022 in six countries, the analyst noted. This compares to 7 days observed at the beginning of April, he added.

Lead time for the iPad, the analyst noted, has improved from 25 days in April to 18 days in May. The iPad Mini delivery time improved from 2 days to 1.2 days, the analyst said.

The Mac Studio lead time also improved from 19.4 days in April to 15.5 days in May, Munster said. New iPhone SE lead times declined from 2 days to 1.2 days, the analyst said.

Lead times for the iPhone 13 Pro, however, have increased from "same day" to 1.5 days, he noted.

Related Link: This Hidden iPhone, iPad Feature Can Really Improve Your Audio, Video Calling Experience

MacBook Pro In Acute Short Supply: The MacBook Pro has the tightest supply among the nine Apple hardware products tracked by Loup, Munster said. The lead time averaged 56.7 days for the product in May, up from 9 days seen in April, he added. Mac, the analyst noted, accounted for about 10% of Apple's sales.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TFI Securities tweeted in mid-May that delivery times of high-end MacBook Pros have increased by three to five weeks after the China lockdowns. The analyst noted that Taiwan-based Quanta Computer is the exclusive supplier of MacBooks. It has eight factories in Shanghai, the epicenter of the COVID resurgence in China.

Apple closed Friday's session up 0.17% at $137.59, according to Benzinga Pro data.