With ablockbuster quarterin its rear - view mirror , Apple seems like it ’s sit down pretty right now . But the problem with results as astounding as those Apple recently posted is that it can be challenging when it comes meter to postdate up on them . Can you keep beating expected value constantly ? For years , the society had trouble living up to the “ tough comparability ” set by its blockbuster sales of the iPhone 6 .
More to the point : As big , successful , and productive as Apple is , it is n’t without challenge , many of which seem to be rearing their heads at this precise present moment . The company look threats that are outside of its control , as well as those that are primarily of its own making . Despite the vast warfare pectus on which the party posture , not all of those problems are ones that it can well fix by the liberal app of money .
While the company as a whole will almost certainly weather the violent storm forwards , there ’s a good chance that it wo n’t be without some dent , some dents , and perhaps even some casualties along the way .
The supply chains that bind
High demand — in large part driven by the pandemic — has beenplaguing the semiconductor unit marketfor months now . In April , even large automakers like Ford and GM take off close down some production lines in response to the shortages . ThoughApple has pull off to largely avert shortagesthus far , the company did warn of issues in the coming quarter , which it said would predominantly touch on the iPad and the Mac .
As a perpetrator , Apple CEO Tim Cook pointed to so - called “ bequest nodes , ” whichCNBC describes as“chips which use older manufacturing methods”—namely , ancillary cow dung like video display comptroller , force management , and decrypt sound recording . Those are functions that obviously trifle a key part in many , if not all , Apple product , so it ’s quite possible that those shortages will have a broad wallop over the next several month .
An industry - wide chip shortfall will affect Apple ’s production goals in the near futurity .
Apple has prove to be passing savvy in planning ahead and operate down the supply lines it knows it ’ll need , though Cook also confirm that the company has basically cut through its safety gadget net at this point . Since the society doubtlessly has more announcements schedule for later this year , the severity of the chip shortage could impact both the timing of when those young products come as well as the form of volumes in which they may be useable .
Bound by law
The App Store remain an Achilles cad of Apple ’s business and , case in point , it ’s currently being direct in two separate venues : the tryout , currently in forward motion , wheregame developer Epic has levy chargesofanti - competitive behavioragainst Apple , and the investigation being engage by the European Commission ’s antimonopoly branch .
Apple , of form , has face up numerous effectual challenge in the past tense . Oftentimes it ’s been able to settle these problems in deals involving some cash , but this fourth dimension around it seems as though both of the other parties are out for blood . To me , the feeling is most reminiscent of the U.S. governing ’s case against the companionship for ebook terms - fastener back in the early 2010s , a determination that ( correct though it may have been ) essentially ended up kneecapping Apple ’s rival with Amazon .
The stakes this time are similarly high : Apple ’s App Store has become a huge economy of its own , as Apple itself likes to tout every time it gets the chance . Though the ship’s company does n’t break out result in its single segments , it seems undisputable that the growth of its Services business is certainly fueled in a very large part by the App Store . If Apple is forced to change its model , whether by enable users to sideload apps , or earmark competing app stores , or even as highly as divest itself of the App Store business , the company support to take a hit to not just its bottom line , but also to its long - running doctrine of curb its products from stem to can .
Apple ’s App Store policies are under attack on multiple fronts .
Even regardless of the end solvent of these cases , the Epic trialhas already unleash a torrent of documents from inside the usually very stiff - lipped Apple , which in and of itself may very well prompt further examination from not just the press and developer , but from legislator and regulators as well .
The enemy within
As always , no list of Apple challenge is complete without show to the companionship ’s liberal risk : itself .
Apple ’s latest trial of product has been nothing short of staggering , fromthe transition to Apple siliconon the Mac tothe latest iPad Pro . But these product are n’t without their weaknesses , and in finicky , despite blockbuster iPad sales in the last year , the company seems to still be struggling with software that ca n’t catch up to its ironware .
get ’s be clear : Apple ’s not in danger of nobody buying an iPad — that ’s not going to happen . But what does turn out watching is how Apple plan to position the iPad in the future . Is it condemned to be a gadget that is great forsomethings , but noteverything ? Or , now that it runs on the same hardware that ’s in the latest Macs , will Apple in conclusion sting the bullet and localise about making the iPad a true parallel to its sometime sib ?
This profound philosophic question is no less dangerous to the company ’s future than all of the extraneous threats Apple face up . Because if it ca n’t figure out where it wants to go , then it ca n’t very well get there .
