Mikey Campbell
As preorders for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus continue to pour in to the Online Apple Store, partner manufacturer Foxconn is reportedly having trouble keeping up with incredibly high demand despite reaching record output levels.
According to sources familiar with the supplier's operations, Foxconn has 100 dedicated assembly lines in Zhengzhou working around the clock in an attempt to meet preorders and launch day allotments for Apple's iPhone 6 handsets, reports The Wall Street Journal.
"We have been churning out 140,000 iPhone 6 Plus and 400,000 iPhone 6 every day, the highest daily output ever, but the volume is still not enough to meet the preorders," the unnamed source said. "For iPhone 6 Plus, we are still ramping up the production line. Another reason for the limited supply is the shortage of 5.5-inch displays."
One insider said 5.5-inch display yields are somewhere between 50 to 60 percent, meaning nearly half of all produced panels are scrapped as they do not meet Apple's strict standards. Retina HD displays bound for the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 are faring better with an output rate of about 85 percent.
Sources said Foxconn is responsible for manufacturing all iPhone 6 Plus models, as well as a "majority" of iPhone 6 versions. The report contrasts rumors from August that claimed Pegatron had won 50 percent of iPhone 6 orders, which at the time was said to be some 50 million units.
Reports from as late as July claimed Apple's larger 5.5-inch iPhone would not be ready in time to launch with the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, though Apple has put those rumors to bed and will debut both smartphones this Friday. Supplies for the "phablet" device appear to be constrained, however, as the larger phone was first to see delivery dates slip when preorders went live last Friday.
The stage is set for a record-breaking launch this week, as Apple on Monday announced combined iPhone 6 and 6 Plus preorders exceeded four million units within their first 24 hours of availability.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
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66 Comments
"Reports from as late as July claimed Apple's larger 5.5-inch iPhone would not be ready in time to launch with the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, though Apple has put those rumors to bed and will debut both smartphones this Friday. " Yes, once again, Apple has "put to bed" the lies propagated by Apple Shorts. When will they lern?
Ah, Foxconn is only producing 16 million a month right now?
"Reports from as late as July claimed Apple's larger 5.5-inch iPhone would not be ready in time to launch with the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, though Apple has put those rumors to bed and will debut both smartphones this Friday. "
Yes, once again, Apple has "put to bed" the lies propagated by Apple Shorts. When will they lern?
Frankly thought given the report dated back to July it is entirely possible that back then the yields were even lower and a launch was indeed looking at risk..
it is because Foxconn is making more phones for Apple's more profitable rival Samsung.
So that's 540k iPhone 6/6+ models per day coming from Foxconn, maybe some more 6 models coming from Pegatron, plus however many 5S and 5C models are being manufactured (or were manufactured earlier this summer and stockpiled) to meet ongoing daily demand for those models, plus some 4S units still being sold in markets that won't get the 6 models until later this year and in markets, like India, where it will continue to be sold indefinitely, and we might arrive at somewhere around 750-850k total iPhones per day range. That's without China sales. 750k iPhones manufactured and sold per day, if demand holds up through the end of the year, would imply about 68 million total iPhones, across all models, sold in the Oct-Dec quarter. Not a bad showing. Especially when you consider Apple has made moves to increase the ASP, such as the bump to 64GB for $100 extra versus only to 32GB. That will pull a significant percentage up into the higher storage purchase. I know for me that's a no brainer.