Apple’s Mac deficit is a big red flag for enterprise IT

Enterprise buyers should expect to be frustrated when buying new hardware next month, as supply chain logistics continue to deteriorate. When it comes to Apple Kit, you may have a budget, but Macs are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

Limitations are not better than limitations

Apple recently announced-97.3 billion in revenue for a record-breaking second fiscal quarter, but warned that supply-chain challenges could cost ভবিষ্য 4 billion to $ 8 billion in the next quarter.

“Right now, our main focus is on deliveries,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“For Q2, we had limitations, but they were significantly lower and driven by the industry-wide chip deficit. Looking ahead, there are two reasons for the limitations: covid disruption and silicon deficiency. These (COVID-19 lockdown) restrictions are mainly in the vicinity of the Shanghai Corridor… almost all damaged factories have now reopened. We are excited that the number of cowardly cases in Shanghai has decreased over the last few days. “

Since then, we have heard reports of continued shutdowns and even riots across Chinese consumer electronics manufacturing. Workers are obviously frustrated and dissatisfied with being locked up in their factory over the weekend rather than visiting family friends. Apple supplier Pegatron cut production at its Shanghai plant this week, reports South China Morning Post. This, plus the war in Ukraine means Apple is feeling the pressure on both sides – production and supply are limited due to logistical problems while demand is being affected by the war and the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.

And Apple is not alone.

Short supply, strong demand

Okay, that’s an important story, but what does that have to do with enterprise buying patterns?

This is manifested as a shortage of hardware.

Deficits are being reported across Apple’s distribution chain, especially around the Mac. McWorld Reports that only three Macs are immediately available in the US at this time – all older M1 models, 13-in. MacBook Pro, Mac mini and iMac 24. Others show delays of two weeks or more for M1 Ultra Mac Studio.

As China’s Shanghai enters its extensive COVID-19 shutdown, supply chain experts began warning that it was coming weeks earlier. Delays in production continue to hurt logistics and distribution systems. In Shanghai, hundreds of cargo ships are backed up while waiting for delivery, and this is creating deficits across technology and the consumer electronics supply chain.

This barrier is exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine, when rising inflation is hurting consumer confidence.

Danger signs

It’s a perfect storm in which this year’s initiative and education purchase cycle is taking place. This is a scenario that suggests that technology buyers will face unexpected headwinds because they want to fill larger collections and this challenge seems to be set as a multiplatform.

After all, while focusing on the world’s most valuable company, when it comes to enterprise use, Macs are far from influential, despite growing popularity, driven by BYOD, employee preferences, an expanding support ecosystem and a growing story around ROI. .

Other PC makers, including the No. 1 Dell and Lenovo, were also affected, becoming increasingly acute with the expiration of millions of older legacy Windows devices.

In a broader context of accelerating cyber attacks, it is fitting that Statcounter shows that one out of every 200 PCS actively runs Windows XP today.

While some of these are probably used as backroom in some larger initiatives, security chiefs would really like to accelerate the upgrades, especially in the current climate. We all know Apple and its iPads have benefited from the last few upgrade cycles. But we don’t need any more ransomware that is hidden in the corporate system through the cracking XP system used in any company.

The last row? Buy now, if you can

If you’re in the education or enterprise sector at WWDC 2022, don’t hesitate to buy the pending launch of new Mac models, you may want to speed up your technical purchasing decisions to get some opportunities to fulfill your order this summer.

Achieving those calendar topics, especially in education. Any school admin knows that getting hardware early is important if you are going to successfully manage the annual mass installation as the new school arrives in the fall. These effects will continue to create all sorts of ripples, and it is going to be the IT purchasing team that needs to find the growing confusion of challenges. Good luck with that.

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Copyright © 2022 IDG Communications, Inc.

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