MacBook Pro delays could be due to COVID lockdown and factory riots

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MacBook Pro still not arrived? This could be why

The MacBook Pro 2021 (14-inch)
(Image credit: Henry T. Casey)

New MacBook Pro orders could take up to two months to arrive, with some users having to wait until mid-July to receive their new laptops, due to a nasty mix of a COVID lockdown and reported employee protests at the factories that build them.

Reporting by United News Network and DigiTimes (via Tom's Hardware) claim that coronavirus lockdown orders in China, and negative employee reaction to conditions resulting from them, have been causing production delays at Quanta Computer. Qanta is thought to be the exclusive builder of MacBook Pros, and operates eight factories with a total of 40,000 employees in Shanghai.

Because China's coronavirus lockdowns are much stricter than ones in the U.S. or U.K., manufacturers have seen disruptions since the end of March, with Qanta undergoing a full week-long closure in mid-April. 

Qanta says it was back to 5% capacity after this closure ended, and company vice chairman CC Leung claims it's now working at 30% of its full output, with the intention to scale up to 50%. However, the lockdown is still in effect, and is impacting component suppliers, too, particularly for plastic parts. This will have a knock-on effect on Qanta's assembly operations and others, although Apple is trying to work around this issue by moving some parts to its production partners by air rather than by the usual sea-based shipping methods.

 How to check your MacBook Pro order

If you want to see whereabouts your MacBook Pro is up to, you can do so by opening the Apple Store and logging in with your Apple ID, or by entering your email address and order number from your confirmation email. We hope that your new MacBook isn't going to take quite so long to arrive as these estimates are saying.

Richard Priday
Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.