Analysis: Why Apple has chips for iPhones while Ford got caught short


FILE PHOTO A man talks on his iPhone at a mobile phone store in New Delhi India July 27 2016. REUTERSAdnan Abidi

FILE PHOTO: A man talks on his iPhone at a mobile phone store in New Delhi, India, July 27, 2016. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - On the same day that Ford Motor Co said it would be able to produce only half as many cars as planned due to a global chip shortage, Apple Inc announced blowout quarterly earnings as smartphone and computer sales soared, with the chip shortage having only a small impact on its business.

The contrasting results show how major players in the electronics industry, accustomed to the long time horizons of chip production, have mostly avoided major disruptions from the chip shortage. Automakers and their suppliers, with "just-in-time" production lines that can more easily be spun up or changed to produce different varieties of parts, have not.

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