Right now, there is a global chip shortage which will no doubt affect the launch of certain products. For example, Samsung has opted to skip the Galaxy Note series this year because of that. However, it seems that for Apple’s iPhone 13, they might not be in as much trouble as the rest.
This is because according to a report from Digitimes (paywall), it seems that TSMC will be giving priority to Apple. The report claims that TSMC will be prioritizing orders from Apple and also from car manufacturers. The former doesn’t really come as a surprise because for years, TSMC has been one of Apple’s key manufacturing partners.
It’s safe to say that thanks to TSMC’s manufacturing processes, it has allowed Apple’s A-series chipsets to stay on par or even surpass their Android competition. More recently, they have also undertaken Apple’s M-series chipsets which are being used to replace Intel’s processors in Apple’s Mac lineup.
That being said, as 9to5Mac points out, the priority TSMC is giving to Apple might not mean that much at the end of the day. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook had previously warned that Apple was struggling to obtain high quantities of chips with “legacy nodes”, meaning that even with their priority, there might not be enough for Apple.