Apple has chosen the worst possible moment for a memory chip drought to launch its most aggressive iPhone offensive in years and industry sources say that’s exactly the point.
Apple is planning an ambitious iPhone launch for the second half of this year and first half of 2027 with at least five new models and a larger volume of folding handsets than previously expected, positioning itself to gain market share amid an industrywide component supply crunch. The timing looks reckless on paper. In practice, it exposes a brutal gap between Apple and everyone else chasing the same scarce chips.
Apple New iPhone Models
Apple has already locked in components for roughly 80 million smartphones covering its new lineup for the second half of 2026, with total production for the year expected to top 220 million units. This number alone is greater than the production capacity of most of their competitors at present. The same component shortage has pushed Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo to cut their annual production targets to below 100 million units each.
Foldable iPhone Target Jumps to 10 Million
The foldable story is where Apple’s confidence shows most clearly. Suppliers have been told to prepare for 10 million foldable iPhones this year, a jump from the earlier 7-to-8 million target. By itself, that volume would give Apple close to 29% of all the orders for foldable smartphone displays by 2026, behind only Samsung at around 31% and above Huawei at 24%, according to Counterpoint Research.
Memory Chip Shortage Hits Apple Supply Chain
Even Apple’s scale has limits. TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated that memory support for the Apple’s A20 chip will reduce by 10% to 20% from original projections from mid-2026 to Q1 2027 due to the limited availability of LPDDR memory.
Also Read: iPhone Ultra Foldable Design Revealed in Leaked Mockups
However, in order to combat this problem, it has been reported that Apple had engaged in discussions with Chinese memory suppliers ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies, who make chips specifically for China but happen to be on the Department of Defense’s Entity List.
Apple Gains Edge Over Smartphone Rivals
However, the broader context is more supportive of Apple than almost any other entity in the room. As a spokesperson for an executive at a company who deals with both Apple and Xiaomi stated to Nikkei Asia, “Chinese phone-makers simply don’t have the leverage of Apple to get more memory supplies or negotiate price.”
That imbalance is the real story behind the five-model rollout. Apple isn’t just launching new phones, it’s using a global supply crisis to widen the distance between itself and every competitor scrambling for the same scarce components.
