Apple Inc’s iPhone main assemblers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday reported the highest August sales in their histories, with both expecting sales for this month to continue expanding on the back of new iPhone models.
Hon Hai said consolidated sales last month rose 6.48 percent to NT$292.91 billion (US$89.1 billion) from a year earlier, pushing cumulative sales in the first eight months of this year to NT$2.59 trillion, up 12.81 percent from a year earlier.
However, sales dropped 6.17 percent from July due to product transition, Hon Hai said.
“Sales in the consumer electronics segment declined from a month earlier, while the communication and computing segments remained flat from July,” a company official who declined to be named said by telephone.
Analysts said the monthly decline in sales was due to ongoing inventory digestion on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, whereas new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will not begin ramping up from this month.
Other than the iPhone assembling business, Hon Hai is widely believed to be the main supplier for Apple’s new iPad Pro tablet.
A source in the company said Hon Hai would begin shipping the new iPad in November from its plant in Chengdu, China.
The source said revenue would grow month-by-month in the remainder of this year to achieve record-high annual revenue this year.
In June, Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) said the company’s sales could grow 10 percent from last year’s NT$4.12 trillion.
Rival Pegatron saw last month’s sales climb 16.4 percent annually and 13.41 percent monthly to NT$75.77 billion, with cumulative sales from January to last month increasing 13.27 percent to NT$635.2 billion from the same period last year.
“The strong monthly growth in sales is because of the robust demand for Pegatron’s non-notebook products,” a Pegatron official told the Taipei Times.
Pegatron shipped 600,000 notebook computers last month, down 14.28 percent from July’s 700,000 units, but the official said shipments would pick up this month following clients’ new product launches.
With non-notebook product entering a traditional peak season this quarter, sales this month are expected to increase significantly from last month, the official said.
Hon Hai shares dropped 1.05 percent to NT$84.6 yesterday and Pegatron shares declined 0.81 percent to NT$85.3.
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