Buoyed by stronger-than-expected preorder requests for the latest version of Apple’s iPhone, most shares of Taiwanese supply-chain firms closed in positive territory in Taipei trading yesterday.
Shares in system assemblers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) rose 0.52 percent to NT$97.5, while Pegatron Corp’s (和碩) rose 1.25 percent to NT$40.45. Case producer Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準), a Hon Hai affiliate, moved up 0.42 percent to NT$120.5.
Apple Inc started accepting preorders from customers at its online store last Friday and saw its initial supply exhausted within 60 minutes of beginning the service, Agence France-Presse reported last Saturday. The US company said in a press release yesterday the pre-orders for iPhone 5 topped 2 million units in first 24 hours, more than double the previous record of one million held by iPhone 4.
AT&T Inc, one of the leading US telecoms carriers collaborating with Apple in launching the iPhone 5, also said yesterday in a statement that it saw a record number of customers pre-ordering the latest iPhone.
“AT&T set a sales record with the iPhone 5 over the weekend, making it the fastest-selling iPhone the company has ever offered,” the largest US telecoms company said in the statement.
“Customers ordered more iPhones from AT&T than any previous model both on its first day of preorders and over the weekend,” the company said.
In the statement, AT&T did not provide the exact number of customers pre-ordering the iPhone 5. The company said only that it still provides pre-order services at its Web site and that it would start selling the iPhone 5 at its retail stores on Friday, the same day the newly unveiled iPhone 5 is to arrive in Apple’s retail stores.
Taipei-based Digitimes Research has forecast that shipments of the iPhone 5 would to reach between 30 million and 35 million units in the fourth quarter of this year, while another research group, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技), said sales of the smartphone could hit 6 million units this month and total 24 million units by year-end.
“Although Apple did not reveal anything shocking, the iPhone 5 is still a significant improvement over its predecessor,” TrendForce said in a note yesterday.
As the iPhone 5 is to be available in nine countries from Friday, 22 more countries on Sept. 29 and is to reach a total of 100 countries by the year’s end, “strong sales are expected, with 30 million iPhone shipments projected by the first quarter of 2013,” TrendForce said.
Other shares of local manufacturers in the Apple supply chain yesterday maintained their momentum on robust pre-order sales, with shares for camera-lens producer Largan Precision Co (大立光) moving up 1.23 percent to NT$660 and Genius Electronic Optical Co (玉晶光) rising 4.23 percent to NT$222.
Shares of printed circuit board makers Unimicron Technology Corp (欣興) ended 1.91 percent higher at NT$34.65, Zhen Ding Technology Holding (臻鼎) closed up 1.34 percent at NT$98 and Flexium Interconnect Inc (台郡) was up 2.05 percent to NT$124.50.
Connector maker Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co (正崴) shares rose 1.13 percent to NT$71.3 and battery pack supplier Simplo Technology Co (新普) shares advanced 1.09 percent to NT$185.
However, shares of touch-panel maker Wintek Corp (勝華) declined 0.62 percent to NT$15.95 and those of TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) dropped 5.10 percent to NT$409.
The benchmark TAIEX climbed 0.31 percent to 7,762.22, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
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