Apple Inc is forecast to see robust iPhone sales in the fourth quarter on replacement demand, CGS-CIMB Securities (Hong Kong) Ltd (銀河—聯昌證券) said on Thursday, a day after the US company introduced three new iPhone models and updates to the Apple Watch.
“We believe the new iPhones should drive a replacement cycle, especially for the current iPhone 6/6S and 7/7S users, given their handsets are 2-4 years old,” CIMB analysts Ray Kwok (郭錦威) and Mathew Hau (侯文普) said in a client note.
Kwok and Hau said iPhone sales for next quarter would increase by 15 percent from the same period last year to 90 million units, which is higher than a market consensus forecast of 85 million units and could therefore benefit the entire Apple supply chain, the analysts said.
Apple on Wednesday launched the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR — which feature full-screen designs, higher performance A12 chipsets, upgraded 3D sensing cameras, better stereo sound with upgraded speaker boxes and a waterproof rating of IP68.
Kwok and Hau said the introduction of the largest 6.5-inch OLED model, the iPhone XS Max, should drive the device’s average selling price higher, while the comparatively cheaper option, the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone XR, should boost its sales volume.
However, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) is cautious about the sales of the new iPhones, given the limited hardware upgrades and the relatively unfavorable pricing in the new models as well as the later availability of the iPhone XR to consumers.
In Taiwan, XS Max prices are to start at NT$39,900, the XS at NT$35,900 and XR at NT$26,900, according to Apple Taiwan’s official Web site.
“We expect sell-through situation of new iPhones to be under pressure with muted share price performance for the iPhone supply chain in the near term,” Yuanta analyst Nicole Tu (塗景婷) said on Thursday.
“In addition, the continued trade war between the US and China is another risk for the Apple supply chain,” she said.
Apple’s manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), which supplies A12 processors for the new iPhones, saw its shares fall 3.41 percent last week to close at NT$261 on Friday in Taipei trading.
Shares in Largan Precision Co (大立光), which supplies smartphone camera lenses, fell 6.87 percent in the week to NT$4,405, while those of metal casings supplier Catcher Technology Co (可成) edged down 0.69 percent to NT$358.
Shares of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major system assembler for Apple products, were 2.19 percent lower at NT$77.9.
The next area to watch is post-launch volume split among the three new models, and telecom carriers’ subsidy plans for new iPhones, Tu said.
Taiwan’s major telecom operators over the weekend announced their nex iPhone offerings, providing a 30-month service contract carrying a minimal monthly fee of NT$1,399.
The launches of the XS and XS Max have been set for Friday, while the XR is to reach the market on Oct. 26.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day