Foxconn Ramps Up Production Ahead of iPhone X Release
Liao Shumin
DATE:  Oct 25 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Foxconn Ramps Up Production Ahead of iPhone X Release Foxconn Ramps Up Production Ahead of iPhone X Release

(Yicai Global) Oct. 25 -- Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. [TPE:2354], trading as Foxconn Technology Group, cancelled days off for production workers from August and extended working hours from last month. This may lead to a 50-percent quarterly increase in shipments in the first quarter of next year.

Foxconn Chairman met with Apple Inc. [NASDAQ:AAPL] Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams in Taipei, rather than in Tucheng city where Hon Hai is based, on Oct. 23, Economic Daily News quoted a market participant as saying.

Williams reportedly went to Taiwan mainly to attend Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s 30th Anniversary Celebration Forum. Williams and Gou may have met to discuss iPhone X capacity issues, a market participant said.

Foxconn is producing 90 percent to 95 percent of iPhone X devices and is assembling most 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus smartphones that have liquid crystal displays. Foxconn and Sharp Corp. [TYO:6753] provide Apple with three-dimensional sensing components that are crucial for iPhone X updates.

The iPhone X has pulled through the darkest time for its production, said KGI Securities Co. [BKK:KGI] Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Despite shortages of flexible printed circuit board embedded antennas, rear wide-angle lenses and TrueDepth camera system hardware, production is set to improve early next month, Kuo said.

Kuo predicted that manufacturers will make roughly 2 million to 3 million iPhone X handsets before its release and shipments in the fourth quarter will reach 25 million to 30 million units. He expects iPhone X shipments to jump 50 percent quarter-over-quarter in the first quarter of next year.

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Keywords:   IPhone X,FOXCONN,Apple