Chip shortage troubles iPhone, growth forecast slows: Apple

Apple Inc said on Tuesday that a global chip shortage that has bit into its ability to sell Macs and iPads will start to affect iPhone production and forecasted slowing revenue growth, sending its shares lower.

Apple executives said revenue for the current fiscal fourth quarter will grow by double-digits but be below the 36.4% growth rate in the just-ended third quarter. Growth will also slow in Apple's closely watched services business, they said.

In a conference call with investors, Apple executives also said that the global chip shortage had a less severe impact than feared in the company's third quarter but will worsen in the fourth quarter, extending to iPhone production.

Chief Executive Tim Cook said the affected chips are made with older technology but are needed to make the company's flagship device. "We do have some shortages," Cook said, "where the demand has been so great and so beyond our own expectation that it's difficult to get the entire set of parts within the lead times that we try to get those."

Shares, which have more than doubled in value in about three years, dropped 2.3% to $143.38 in after-hours trading after the call.