This year’s Black Friday sales have seen major shortages of iPhone 14 deals available online and in retail stores, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives reported.

He believes that the “demand for iPhone 14 units into the all-important Black Friday holiday weekend is way ahead of supply and could cause major shortages leading into Christmas season.” The Covid-19 outbreak in China and renewed lockdown are to blame for the shortages as production at FoxConn slows, CBS news reports.

China’s “zero-Covid” policy and rising cases have compelled Apple to switch production to India as residential lockdowns spread and business halt.

Ives reported that “The zero-Covid China shutdowns in Foxconn have been a major gut punch to Apple this quarter and we believe have taken roughly 5% of iPhone 14 units out of the supply chain and thus putting Cupertino in a ‘major shortage’ heading into the next month”.

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FoxConn has also faced labour strikes recently which erupted into violence after factory workers disputed over pay. After clashes with the police, the Taiwanese company apologised and blamed it on “technical error” in adding new employees.

He has predicted that this year Apple might sell only 8 million iPhones during Black Friday sales, in comparison with 10 million sales last year.