As we enter the last (hopefully) stretch of iPhone 13 rumours before Apple’s September event, it appears that upgrading might cost more than usual.
According to DigiTimes (via MacRumors), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TMSC) — one of the top chipmakers in the world and an Apple supplier — plans to up its production costs by as much as 20%. Those changes are expected to hit in January 2022. DigiTimes claims that Apple, TMSC’s biggest client, will as a result see price hikes between 3-5%.
But, you say, that’s months from now! Why would that impact the price of iPhones that are probably nearing the end of production and will soon be revealed to the world at large? The report claims it’s that age-old reason of passing the cost to consumers to protect profitability — just regular ol’ capitalism.
While this is definitely possible, we’ll have to see whether that price hike is spread evenly across the entire iPhone 13 lineup or if they’ll be only be tacked onto the higher-end Pro models.
This year, we’re expecting to see four models of the iPhone 13, including the iPhone Mini’s last hurrah. The phones are expected to have bigger batteries, smaller notches, and several camera upgrades like a Portrait Video mode, ProRes, and more automatic filter options. Other things to look out for are 120Hz refresh rates for the displays and a faster A15 processor. That said, it’s expected the iPhone 13 will be more of an incremental upgrade than a radical overhaul. An iPhone 12S, as they might have called it in the olden days.
As for when we’ll see these pricier phones, the latest theory is the iPhone 13 will go on sale on Sept. 17. A few other devices that we might see launched alongside the iPhone are the Apple Watch Series 7, AirPods 3, and perhaps a new iPad Mini. And while previously we had all hoped this spring would see just one Apple event, it looks like we’re in for another season of multiple launch events. Right now it looks like a second possible launch event will centre around the M1X MacBooks and a fancy Mac Mini.