Upcoming iPhone 13 may hit unprecedented price heights as Apple bears brunt of TSMC quote rises

A report from DigiTimes has indicated that Apple may have to release the iPhone 13 series with higher price tags than previously expected. The article states this is due to TSMC altering its quotes for all of its customers, which will include big names such as AMD, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Intel. Apple is a massive contract for TSMC, with Cupertino having supposedly ordered over 100 million A15 chips from the foundry.

According to the report (via MacRumors), TSMC has implemented up to a 20% rise with some orders, while sub-7 nm process-related orders will be price hiked by 3-10%. This latter increase is relevant to Apple’s order as the A15 chip is based on a 5 nm manufacturing process, and apparently the iPhone 13 maker will witness a “3-5% price hike”. It’s likely Apple has ended up on the lower end of the scale due to it being TSMC’s largest client, providing over 20% of the chip-maker’s wafer revenue.

DigiTimes concludes with the perturbing claim from “market sources” who reckon Apple will pass on the additional cost via the iPhone 13 price tags. Not long ago it was rumored that the iPhone 13 would be priced at the same level as the iPhone 12 – so US$799 for the 64 GB model. But there have been some dark rumblings of a potential US$899 price tag coming for the entry-level Apple iPhone 13, which seems not so incredulous now when considering TSMC’s current advantageous position in the market.

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