iPhone 13 series prices may be higher than expected, a new report suggests. Apple is reportedly looking to increase the price tag on the iPhone 13 range to mitigate the impact of rise in chip-making costs. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Apple’s leading chip supplier, is reportedly planning to increase the costs of its chip production. This will impact TSMC customers including Apple.
DigiTmes, citing its sources, reports that TSMC plans to increase the cost of its chip production by up to 20 percent. TSMC has notified its customers about this increase and it plans to bring it into effect from January 2022. The increase in production cost is reportedly for TSMC’s ‘advance and mature process technologies’. The report adds that the price adjustments will also be for the orders scheduled to be fulfilled starting December.
TSMC makes Apple’s A-series mobile chips for iPhones and iPads, as well as chips for many other big electronics companies. It’s apparently notified its partners that the price of making sub-7-nanometer chips (which includes the A-series) will be going up. There will be up to a 20% increase from January 2022 for some of TSMC’s products. Apple, however, will reportedly only see a 3 to 5% increase.
As a result, Apple could pass the increased costs on to iPhone 13 series and future iPhone consumers, DigiTimes’ source noted. Likewise, this hike in chip production prices could be bad news for the rumored new iPad mini 6, as well as the follow-ups to the current iPad, iPad Air and iPad Pro.
However, with the prices only coming into effect from January, and impacting orders due to be fulfilled from September, there’s a chance this may not apply to the iPhone 13. Production for the new iPhone has presumably already begun, and while it may continue into the new year, hopefully Apple has already locked in existing terms and prices with TSMC.
Apple’s rumored to be offering only a modest set of upgrades for the iPhone 13, which could make that suggested price hike sting even more. While there are rumors of 120Hz displays for the Pro models, improved camera sensors and lens upgrades across the board, and of course a more powerful chipset, this doesn’t seem to be as big a leap forward as the iPhone 12 series was, which delivered a new design and 5G for the first time.
