In the last quarter of 2023, Apple’s net profit is projected to fall by 8%. Notably, the company has posted growing revenues for three years in a row. Visible Alpha reports that 90% of all iPhone devices are assembled in China. At the same time, China generates one-fifth of the US tech giant's revenues. However, Apple was short of 5 to 15 million iPhones due to lockdown measures and a spike in the number of cases in China. In this connection, Apple saw a drop in sales of its devices. The Apple store in Beijing had to cut the working hours of its employees as many staffers could not work due to infections. For the same reason, almost all production lines are also suffering from workforce shortages. Head of State of Flux Alan Day, who cooperates with the UN on corporate standards for responding to the spread of infections, said that the next six months would be crucial to Apple's supply chain resilience as the epidemiological situation in China remains difficult. Meanwhile, a surge in the number of infections fueled analysts' fears that the country was inching toward an economic downturn.
