Major iPhone supplier Foxconn says that it expects the ongoing chip shortage to continue well into the second half of next year, prolonging struggles of manufacturers, including Apple, to keep up with consumer demand, The Wall Street Journalreports.
Apple has been dealing with the chip shortage for the past several quarters, but it only started significantly impacting Apple’s business in the most recent quarter. The shortage of specific components and production constraints related to the ongoing public health crisis have impacted iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac availability. Apple said that this past quarter, the shortages cost it $6 billion, and it expects the impact to be even more significant for the holiday season.
Foxconn is Apple's largest supplier for the iPhone, and while some reports suggest that production is improving, it's still a length away from being entirely normal. As the holiday season approaches, Apple is encouraging customers to get their holiday orders in early to ensure they receive them in time for the holidays, and the company has provided "order by" dates for some of its most popular products.
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps.
To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4.
There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...
Wednesday March 25, 2026 3:33 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple this week released tvOS 26.4, and the software update includes a handful of new features and changes for the Apple TV.
tvOS 26.4 is compatible with all Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD models released since 2015. To update your Apple TV, open the Settings app on the device, navigate to System → Software Updates, and select Update Software.
Below, we have recapped what is new in tvOS...
My recommendation, If you don’t really need a new iPhone don’t buy one I would say. If you have an iPhone X to 12, keep it until it stops getting iOS updates. Yes, some will say, it’s your freedom, right and money. But it’s just my opinion.
The “chip shortage” is rather complex, new nodes, eg 5nm are fine, older nodes are not and a lot of companies are hording inventory so some of it is artificial. Also interesting to note is that RAM and flash prices are leveling out and even start declining again, an indication that the PC market will decline again. I think that the chip shortage as in wafer fab is going to end in H1 22 but that is only part of the supply chain.
Overall supply chain is a big mess and it will take long to recover.
