iPhone 7 Delay Unclear After Earthquake Impacts Chipmaker

iPhone 7 Rumors: 7 That Have People Talking

Apple's iPhone 7 chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) issued a warning that its facilities took a larger hit than previously estimated from the recent 6.4 magnitude earthquake that rattled Taiwan, but it's unclear whether or not iPhone 7 shipments will ultimately be delayed.

When the earthquake struck earlier this month, TSMC stated it "does not expect the earthquake to affect first quarter 2016 wafer shipment by more than 1 percent." 

But on Friday TSMC revised its assessment and noted that more than 1% of its shipments will be decreased because damage to its Fab 14 was worse than previously thought, according to a Digitimes report. However, the company did not provide any specific percentages of how much greater that impact would be, the report noted.

Despite the decrease in shipments, the company apparently did not believe it was severe enough to warrant revising its financial outlook for the quarter. The company is still standing by its earlier assessment that "it is confident of hitting target consolidated revenues of NT $198-201 billion (US $5.9-6.0 billion) for the first quarter of 2016," Digitimes reported.

Publicly traded companies like TSMC are required to disclose when they have a material event that is expected to greatly change a company's financial picture when they are aware of the situation. TSMC has not done that yet.

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The timing of the earthquake couldn't be worse for Taiwan Semiconductor. Last week the chipmaker struck a deal with Apple to be the exclusive manufacturer of the processors for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, according to a MacRumors report.

The processor for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is anticipated to be called the A10, and the smartphones are expected to be introduced in September, MacRumors noted.

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