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TAIPEI – Apple and its key suppliers are ramping up production and working through the holidays to ensure that the long-awaited iPhone 5G lineup hits shelves shortly after its release on October 13.
The two biggest iPhone assemblers, Foxconn and Pegatron, have been running at full production speed during China’s two biggest holidays: the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Golden Week holiday that follows their National Day, according to reports. learned Nikkei Asia.
Initial production of the highly anticipated iPhone 5G began in mid-September, in line with Nikkei Asia’s previous report, with more substantial production in early October. Both Apple and its suppliers have been working hard for months to shorten the production delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Production volume for the new 5G iPhone range could end between 73 million and 74 million units by this year, Nikkei Asia reported, below Apple’s original component orders of 80 million units due to delays in production and development caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The production shortfall will likely be made up early next year, if sales are as strong as Apple expects. Production of the latest iPhones and the 5G flagship line remains in China, despite the huge migration of the tech industry out of the country, Nikkei reported.
Foxconn said it “does not comment on any aspect of our operations or our work for any client” as a matter of policy. “However, we can say that all vacation and overtime work arrangements made by employees at our facilities in China are completely voluntary and fully comply with all relevant laws and regulations.”
Pegatron declined to comment on specific customers or products.
Apple last week sent an invitation to an online press event on October 13 to announce the launch of 5G iPhones, weeks after it hosted a virtual event to launch new iPads and Apple Watch and roughly a month after that. generally features its flagship. iPhones.
The Cupertino-based tech giant will introduce four 5G iPhones with three screen sizes: 5.4-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.7-inch. All four phones will sport the most advanced organic light-emitting diode displays, which are mainly supplied by South Korea’s Samsung Display and LG Display.
Two of the 5G iPhones, the 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch models, will come with high-end triple cameras, which will likely feature an AI-powered object detection feature that could better enable augmented reality applications. The other two models will sport dual cameras like last year’s popular iPhone 11.
The full range of iPhone 5G will be powered by Apple’s in-house designed A14 mobile processors, which are produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. using the Taiwanese company’s latest 5-nanometer chip production technology, currently the most advanced in the industry. .
The new iPhones will be the world’s first smartphones to use such advanced chips, following Apple’s announcement in September that its new iPad Air will also feature A14 chips. Apple will also not include a charger or wired headphones with its new iPhones, both to keep costs down and because many iPhone users already have these accessories.
Apple’s launch of its flagship iPhones comes as rival Huawei Technologies, which briefly surpassed Samsung Electronics as the world’s leading smartphone maker by shipments in the June quarter, announced that it will launch its Mate 40 smartphone on the 22nd. October.
Huawei is fighting an ongoing crackdown in the United States that restricts all vendors, American or not, from using American technology to serve the Chinese tech giant unless they receive a specific license. This restriction has affected everyone from TSMC, Micron, and Samsung to Sony, Qualcomm, and Largan Precision, a provider of high-end camera lenses.
The Mate 40 models will be equipped with the Huawei-designed Kirin mobile processor, which, like Apple’s A14 chip, is produced by TSMC using 5-nanometer technology. However, because Huawei cannot receive support from unlicensed chip vendors, the company’s chip supply may run out. Huawei’s Mate series generally competes head-to-head with Apple’s new iPhones in the last quarter of the year.
Rising geopolitical tensions could also affect Apple’s 5G iPhone sales in China if the Trump administration forces the company to remove popular Chinese apps like WeChat or TikTok from its app store. Meanwhile, Beijing in September implemented a set of rules for its “Untrustworthy Entities List,” a list of foreign companies accused of treating Chinese companies unfairly. The Global Times, the spokesman for the Communist Party of China, previously hinted that Apple, Qualcomm and Cisco Systems could be among the possible targets of Beijing’s retaliation.
While market watchers foresee further uncertainty for the smartphone market due to the pandemic and geopolitical tensions, they are hopeful for a recovery in 2021.
Digitimes analyst Luke Lin expects Samsung, Apple, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi to see healthy growth in smartphone shipping next year, while Huawei will see a significant decline due to US crackdown. Total iPhone sales will exceed 220 million units in 2021, from around 195 million units this year, and Apple will regain the No. 2 position in the global smartphone market, according to Lin’s forecast.
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