Friday, November 25, 2022 7:38 pmFriday, November 25, 20224 Comments

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Many shoppers looking for Apple’s latest high-end iPhone 14 Pro and flagship iPhone 14 Pro Max returned empty handed from its stores this Black Friday as Apple struggles with an assembly crisis due to the Chinese Communist Party’s quixotic “Zero COVID” lockdowns in China.

Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro and flagship iPhone 14 Pro Max

Hilary Russ and Siddharth Cavale for Reuters:

The “iPhone shortages are accelerating and were front and center this morning on Black Friday across many retailers, Apple Stores, and online channels,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note.

“We believe many Apple Stores now have iPhone 14 Pro shortages based on model or color or storage of up to 25%-30% below normal heading into a typical December, which is not a good sign heading into holiday season for Cupertino,” he said referring to Apple’s headquarters.

Shares of Apple ended down 2.0% after its supplier Foxconn flagged on Friday that iPhone production could be further hit due to worker unrest at the plant.

Foxconn’s plant in China makes Apple’s premium models including the latest iPhone 14 Pro, a source told Reuters.

The plant, the world’s largest Apple iPhone factory has been grappling with strict COVID-19 restrictions that have fueled discontent among workers and disrupted production ahead of Christmas and January’s Lunar New Year holiday.

MacDailyNews Take: Again, “These iPhone 14 Pro sales are merely deferred, not lost. Some may shift down to iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, but most buyers will simply wait for supply to catch up amidst strong demand.”

As for the CCP”s idiotic “Zero COVID” pipe dream, here’s how it’s going:

See also: Tim Cook firmly latched Apple onto China’s CCP teat. What’s his plan for weaning it off? – November 2, 2022

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.

The problem isn’t COVID. The problem is the illogical, unworkable, delusional, self-defeating authoritarian response to COVID.

The average age of a Foxconn worker is 23 (before the CCP drove them away with the threat of more quixotic lockdowns). A 23 year old who gets COVID might not even notice they have it. Protect those with co-morbidities who might be at risk of serious complications (don’t compel older retirees into a closed factory setting, CCP Cuomo impersonators).

Letting COVID simply wash through a population of healthy twenty-three-year-olds (many of whom have already acquired natural immunity) is the rational decision. — MacDailyNews, November 16, 2022

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Clearly, Apple under Tim Cook had, has, and, for the foreseeable future, seems like it will continue to have far too much exposure to China and the CCP’s overbearing and often irrational whims.

Memo to China: There’s no such thing as zero-COVID. Duh.

As we’ve said for years now, for better and worse, Apple is wedded to China. It will take many years to even begin to extricate itself from this relationship, at least the the point where the company has some meaningful leverage that the CCP understands. – MacDailyNews, April 8, 2022

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In general, human-transmissible coronaviruses do not disappear. There is no such thing as zero-COVID. Duh.

COVID-19 is here to stay. It will very likely become endemic, yet pose less danger over time. People will acquire immunity via vaccines (effectiveness TDB) and naturally as they contract and recover from variants like omicron since the partially-effective vaccines permit not only transmissibility, but also breakthrough infections. Influenza and the four human coronaviruses that cause common colds (OC43, 229E, NL63 and HKU1) are, of course, also endemic, but a combination of annual flu vaccines and acquired immunity means that sane societies tolerate the unavoidable seasonal deaths and illnesses they bring without requiring lockdowns, masks, social distancing, indefinite return-to-work delays, etc.

At which point, if ever, will some people decide that wasting away their short lives in abject fear of a bad flu, very likely engineered by China and partially funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is a hysterical self-defeating overreaction? – MacDailyNews, December 16, 2021

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The COVID-19 data is clear: Stop the panic and end the total isolation… A severe economic disruption will very likely provoke the immeasurable costs of widespread unemployment, social isolation, and increased mental health issues, suicide rates, bankruptcies, civil unrest, crime, and war. – MacDailyNews, April 23, 2020

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There are any number of countries where, prior to this ongoing COVID-19 collective behavior experiment, we could have imagined a compliant population capitulating to the random, illogical, and ever-changing whims of so-called “experts” and ignoramus politicians – actually allowing themselves to be quarantined, locked-down, restricted, put out of business, deprived of family and friends, tagged and tracked, digitally and otherwise, but not America. Obviously, we were wrong.

“The land of the free and the home of the brave?” Pfft. Seemingly just empty words today.

Yes, COVID-19 is real. Yes, COVID-19 is a contagious disease. Yes, COVID-19 can kill, especially those with underlying conditions who should be protected as best as possible. However, the reaction to COVID-19 has clearly been blown out of all proportion and the ramifications of such overreaction will be long-lasting and difficult, if not impossible, to overcome.

Those who have lived through this period (in other words, the vast majority of people) and who are still capable of rational thought, will understand implicitly how easily fear and bad data, especially as amplified, massaged, and repeated ad nauseam via mass and social media, can be used to control even so-called “free” people who, it seems, will cede their freedoms en masse with nary a bleat. – MacDailyNews, December 28, 2020

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And you thought sheep were herdable animals. – MacDailyNews, March 9, 2020

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The real virus is the panic. – MacDailyNews, March 9, 2020

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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]