Apple's scratch resistant sapphire supplier for the Apple Watch is reportedly Monocrystal, a Russian firm which has become the largest synthetic sapphire manufacturer in the world.
The company's annual revenue is up to $87 million, and it was one of the only sapphire manufacturers to post an operating profit by the end of 2014, according to Sputnik News. The depreciation of the ruble in the past year — owing to falling oil prices, and economic sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine — has made it more economically competitive.
Apple uses Monocrystal's 2-inch sapphire wafers, which account for 40 percent of the latter's output, Sputnik said. Monocrystal is reportedly looking to exploit the low ruble to boost 2-inch production from 4 million units a month to 5 million by the end of the year.
It's not clear how much of Monocrystal's wafer production might be dedicated to Apple, as it serves a number of clients, including other watchmakers.
Apple has also been vague about the number of Watch sales so far, claiming success but choosing not to publish any unit numbers or even break out revenue. Analyst estimates have varied wildly for the June quarter, anywhere between 2 million and 4.2 million.
The company's original sapphire supplier was supposed to be an American firm, GT Advanced Technologies, with which it helped establish a factory in Mesa, Arizona. GT ultimately went bankrupt however, blaming unreasonable demands by Apple, something the latter denied. The aftermath is still being resolved in court.
34 Comments
Yikes- Innards from China and surfacing from Russia. Countries that love to point nukes at us and invade their neighbours. For such a beautiful device it's a pity they can make it more like Tesla does all in house..
It should be mentioned in the article that Sputnik News is owned and controlled by the Russian government.
[quote name="konqerror" url="/t/187785/russias-monocrystal-identified-as-apple-watch-sapphire-supplier#post_2763453"]It should be mentioned in the article that Sputnik News is owned and controlled by the Russian government.[/quote] Why? You really think there is a difference between government owned companies and private ones?
Yes in Russia much of the news is directly controlled by the government. The government is also known to post comments on line that conform to their view of any political discussion. This was very apparent on CNN while the invasion of the Ukraine was expanding. Most of those who had pro Putin and Russian comments to post seemed to have problems with basic grammar and usage in their posts.
Journalism 101. You need to disclose to the reader potentially biased sources, which means all state media, regardless of the country. Go read some regular news for once.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/23/us-china-markets-finance-idUSKCN0PW1GR20150723
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/world/article/Turkish-state-media-8-soldiers-killed-in-6452734.php
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/16054-central-bank-dismisses-rumours-of-bank-run.html
http://www.voanews.com/content/memorial-services-held-in-tianjin/2923494.html