Pegatron Corp (和碩) chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) yesterday downplayed rumors that Apple Inc’s forthcoming iPhone XR would see delays and shipment cuts due to supply chain woes, Chinese-language media reports said.
The company, which has been tapped to supply about 70 percent of the iPhone XR, the most affordable of this year’s three new iPhones, has been named in a number of gloomy reports ahead of the smartphone’s release later this month.
Pegatron has entered its peak season with no incident and production has been going well, Tong said.
There are no component shortages that he is aware of, Tong told reporters on the sidelines of an event organized by the Full Food Foundation to promote healthy eating among young students.
Rather than problems with components, Pegatron is facing more pressure from an ongoing shortage of workers, Tong said.
Labor shortages usually mean that business is good, Tong said, adding that the situation could be attributed to dwindling birth rates across the world’s developed markets.
Amid concern over a component shortage, Fubon Securities Investment Services Co (富邦投顧) slashed its iPhone XR shipment forecast by 35 percent to 24 million units after a recent typhoon took its toll on LCD display suppliers in Japan.
Other news outlets have also said that Apple had redirected iPhone XR assembly orders to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) due to lower-than-
expected yields at Pegatron.
Meanwhile, as Microsoft Corp launched its new Surface-series products, including a 2-in-1 tablet, traditional notebook and desktop computers on Wednesday, its local suppers — including Pegatron and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) — could see revenue growth ahead, media reports said.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
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