Taiwanese iPhone 12 shortages should reportedly be solved 'in two weeks'

By Oliver Haslam
published

Tim Cook at Foxconn
Tim Cook at Foxconn (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • There's set to be a shortage of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro handsets in Taiwan when the devices go on sale tomorrow.
  • There's reportedly a lower number of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro handsets available compared with last year's iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro.
  • DigiTimes reports that Foxconn and Pegatron are accelerating production.

Taiwanese buyers of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro might find that they struggle to pick one up with shortages expected across carriers and retailers, according to a report. But people shouldn't have to wait for stock levels to stabilize, with both Foxconn and Pegatron upping their game to deal with the shortage.

A new DigiTimes report notes that a shortage of handsets is expected when the new iPhones go on sale in Taiwan, but the problem should be rectified within a couple of weeks.

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max cameras

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max cameras (Image credit: Apple)

Taiwan's telecom and channel operators are to face a short supply of the iPhone 12 lineup when they begin to deliver the devices to pre-registered consumers on October 24, with market sources saying that the shortfalls are likely to be solved within two weeks.

The report says that a pandemic-induced decrease in supplies is part of the reason Taiwan is short of iPhones, but that two key players are offering big money to workers in an attempt to ratchet up production.

On the supply side, iPhone's major assemblers, including Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron, reportedly are handling out handsome pays in order to recruit more employees at their major production plants in China to accelerate production.

Fingers crossed that everyone who wants to buy an iPhone will be able to soon enough.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.