Apple was not able to mass produce a sufficient number of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max units in the fourth quarter, which is supposed to be the company’s busiest as it is the holiday season. In a rare move, the company made a public announcement regarding the low volume of units, and it might be the reason why Apple may post a revenue decline in almost four years.

Analysts believe that Apple will report just over $121 billion in revenue for the December quarter, which is lower than what the company reported a year ago

Foxconn had to temporarily shut down its Zhengzhou plant in China, which resulted in the supply chain disruption of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. It was estimated that Apple will report a shipments drop of 20 millionfor the fourth quarter of 2022. Additionally, the low demand for the less expensive iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus did not help matters. CNBCreports that UBS analyst David Vogt wrote the following in January regarding Apple’s supply chain.

“We believe the peak impact of the disruptions was felt in early to mid November as wait times hit an extreme level (link) as the wait time in the US for the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max reached 34 days while wait time in China at the high-end hit 36 days.”

This series of setbacks mean Apple will post a revenue decline for the first time in almost four years. According to analysts, Apple will report just over $121 billion in revenue in the December 2022 quarter, which would be a slight decline from the company’s $123.9 billion revenue that it reported a year ago.

Since Foxconn’s Zhengzhou facility assembles the lion’s share of the world’s iPhones, not only is Apple taking production out of China, but its partner has been rumored to have lost exclusivity statusfor upcoming iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra orders. What kind of financial results do you think Apple will post about in the coming days?