Production pause for M2 chips: Sales of Apple MacBooks apparently below expectations

Samuel Buchmann

4.4.2023

Translation: machine translated

According to a Korean news portal, Apple has stopped the production of M2 chips for two months. It seems that customers are currently buying fewer new Macs than expected.

A Korean factory in Apple's M2 chip production chain did not receive any new material in January and February. This was reported by the Korean portal "The Elec". Among other things, Amkor Technology packages the finished M2 wafers that come from Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC. However, according to the report, there was a lull for two months. "The Elec" believes that Apple had ordered a pause in production.

The report is an indication that the current Macs with M2 chips are selling less well than Apple had expected. This fits in with the last quarterly figures, in which sales slumped compared to the previous year - and more than analysts had expected. It appears that the new MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips have not triggered a major surge in demand either.

Back in January, Apple CEO Tim Cook dampened expectations and predicted a "challenging situation" in the short term. This is because the computer market is generally declining after the boom during the pandemic. "Strategically, however, we are well positioned," Cook added at the time.

The news about the falling sales figures is hardly surprising. As I noted in my review of the new MacBook Pro, the M2, M2 Pro and M2 Max are comparatively minor upgrades to their predecessor chips. Many customers are likely to have already switched from the old Intel processors to Apple Silicon. There is little reason for them to upgrade again.

Apple is under increasing pressure overall. The number of new products has been low so far this year - contrary to many rumours, the Californians have not yet announced a spring event. The entry into a new product category is expected in the summer with a mixed reality headset. However, this seems to be causing an unusual amount of doubt, even internally. Nevertheless, nobody on Wall Street seems to care yet - Apple's share price is close to its all-time high at 166 dollars.

Samuel Buchmann

Senior Editor

Samuel.Buchmann@digitecgalaxus.ch

My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.

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