Shares in manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) rebounded yesterday morning after the iPhone assembler reported its highest-ever sales for November.
Hon Hai on Monday reported record-high revenue for last month, dispelling concerns over lukewarm reception for Apple Inc’s latest lineup.
The world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer reported that revenue rose 1.99 percent sequentially and 5.59 percent annually to NT$601.44 billion (US$19.47 billion), marking the company’s strongest showing for the month and its second-highest monthly topline.
Gains were led by communications and consumer products, followed by computing products, Hon Hai said.
Computing saw the strongest yearly growth, followed by communications and consumer electronics.
Revenue in the first 11 months rose 15.99 percent from a year earlier to NT$4.68 billion.
Apple said that it would no longer publish its unit sales data, but has said that the lower-priced iPhone XR has been its best-selling smartphone.
However, the claim was overshadowed by reports that Apple had authorized telecoms in Japan to cut the price of the phone in a bid to prop sales.
Shares in Hon Hai rose 1.03 percent to NT$68.4 in Taipei trading yesterday.
Separately, Pegatron Corp (和碩) a key assembler of the iPhone XR, reported that revenue last month dipped 6.3 percent sequentially and rose 43 percent annually to NT$174.23 billion.
The outcome is telling of iPhone XR’s tepid sales as Pegatron’s revenue had peaked in October during production, only to lose momentum the following month.
Still, last month’s topline marked Pegatron’s second-highest for the year.
Shares in Pegatron rose 1 percent to NT$50.3.
In related news, a Chinese court has ruled in favor of Qualcomm Inc in a patent infringement case with Apple, banning the sale of some older iPhone models in China, which could affect suppliers.
The banned iPhones include all models from the iPhone 6S to the iPhone X, including last year’s iPhone 8 — which is assembled exclusively by Pegatron — as well as the iPhone 8 Plus, which is assembled by Hon Hai and Wistron Corp (緯創).
Meanwhile, Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Apple Inc’s main assembler for laptops and wearables, reported that revenue last month rose 17.01 percent sequentially to NT$110.82 billion, as the company benefited from the new MacBook Air and Apple Watch Series 4.
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