Apple Warns of Chip Shortage, Shares Fall 7%

Cook insisted the squeeze was not a conventional breakdown in the supply chain. "This is not a regular supply issue, it's a demand forecast issue, to be candid," he said, conceding that Apple had underestimated appetite for its newest devices. Sales of iPhone and Mac products grew 22 percent and 25 percent respectively during the quarter, and the company has said the iPhone 17 launch was the biggest in its history. The constraints have already limited the availability of Mac computers and are expected to spread to iPhone and iPad. One of the constraints involves advanced-node processors, chip technology that lets devices run faster, most of which Apple sources from TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company).

Investors were further unsettled by guidance for the September quarter, which forecast revenue growth of 9 to 11 percent against Wall Street expectations of roughly 12 percent. The reversal was abrupt: days earlier Apple had touched a record high and briefly passed a $5 trillion valuation. Apple said tariff refunds had lifted its gross margin, which was about 2 percent larger than it would otherwise have been; the BBC calculated those refunds at roughly $1.1 billion, money Cook said would be reinvested in the United States. The call was his last before John Ternus succeeds him as chief executive on 1 September, leaving his successor to ease the shortages. Cook also addressed the coming relaunch of Siri, Apple's AI (artificial intelligence) assistant, calling on-device processing "a competitive weapon".