Apple and Amazon Q3 results warn of difficult holiday season

Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have reported disappointing quarterly results that warn of a difficult holiday season as getting enough products to consumers is a daunting challenge for nearly everyone.

Amazon is hobbled by a surge in labor and fulfillment costs while Apple can’t meet the demand for its products.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that while demand was robust, sales were $6 billion less due to supply constraints, most notably, a lack of semiconductors.

The company has numerous new devices from the iPhones, watches, iPads, Mac computers that it needs to bring to consumers’ before the holidays when sales are expected to set records.

But due to supply-chain constraints, Cook expects the problem to eclipse the $6 billion toll it took last quarter.

Analysts have projected revenue of about $120 billion for the Cupertino, California-based Apple in the current quarter.

Meanwhile, Amazon warned it will have to spend billions to ensure that supply-chain woes don’t affect the holiday shopping season, which could wipe out its profit during the last three months of the year.

The money would go to paying workers more and speeding partly empty trucks to their destinations.

Revenue is expected to be $130 billion to $140 billion in the period ending in December.

Operating income could be as low as zero for Amazon after reaping billions of dollars each quarter since early 2018.