The sale of an iPhone factory owned by Wistron to Luxshare may be a long-term problem for rival Apple supply chain partners Hon Hai and Pegatron, JP Morgan reckons, with the purchase likely to help Wistron increase its involvement in iPhone production further.
Workers at Apple's component manufacturing factories say that their hours are being cut, and some are losing jobs, as the coronavirus has larger impacts on the world's demand for products — and maybe the release date of the "iPhone 12" as well.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo sees significant uncertainty surrounding iPhone production in China because of the ongoing coronavirus, and has detailed what he is seeing so far at Apple assemblers Foxconn and Pegatron.
Apple assembly partner Pegatron is considering a diversification of its production facilities with a new operation in Vietnam, a plan that would help move some of its manufacturing outside of China and potentially mitigating any future issues over US-China trade tensions.
A report claims that Apple is working with game distributor Valve for the development of an Augmented Reality head-mounted display, which may be released in the second half of 2020.
A special team within Apple has been tasked with investigating the costs of moving between 15% and 30% of iPhone, iPad and AirPod to other countries in order to reduce the impact of US/China tariffs.
Indonesian deputy industry minister Warsito Ignatius says that Taiwan firm Pegatron has signed a letter of intent stating that the company will invest between $695 million and $1 billion in local factories to build Apple devices.
One of Apple's major assembly partners, Pegatron, will start Indonesian manufacturing of iPads and MacBooks in June, regional reports claim.
A number of Apple suppliers such as Largan and TSMC are diversifying orders amid declining iPhone sales, a supply chain report claimed on Monday.
Apparently impacted by Apple's iPhone demand, some 50,000 seasonal workers have been dismissed from Foxconn since October, a report indicated on Friday.
Foxconn is not in talks to settle an antitrust lawsuit it and other Apple assembly partners have leveled against Qualcomm, with its lawyers readying for a protracted legal battle.
Besides just an iOS 12 patch, Apple may shift some of its iPhone production between its assembly partner to mitigate some of the effects of the Chinese sales ban in its patent fight with Qualcomm.
Apple's iPhone assembly partner Pegatron appears to be making a move to Indonesia to sidestep the US/China trade dispute, despite recent news of a truce.
Pegatron was able to solve workforce shortages in time for the October launch of the iPhone XR, and despite rumors is holding onto its share of production for the device, a report indicated this week.
Apple, after seeing allegedly poor demand for the iPhone XR, has reportedly told assembly partners Foxconn and Pegatron to stop any preparations the firms are making for new smartphone production lines specifically for the recently-launched model.
Apple is reportedly changing its orders for the iPhone XR with its assembly partners, with some production being shifted from Pegatron to rival Foxconn over alleged capacity and component sourcing issues.
Share prices of Apple's suppliers in Asia slipped on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted in response to Apple's letter to the U.S. Trade Representative about the proposed Chinese tariffs, with the President calling a shift in production from China to the United States an "easy solution."
Foxconn will not only manufacture every second-generation, 5.8-inch OLED iPhone — sometimes dubbed the "iPhone XS" — but 90 percent of 6.5-inch "XS Plus" units, and 75 percent of a 6.1-inch LCD budget model, according to one research firm.
At least three Asian firms are competing to get orders for next-generation metal iPhone casings from Apple, a new report indicated on Wednesday.
Apple reportedly has plans to return to a metal chassis for at least one of next year's iPhone models, a long-standing design last implemented with the iPhone 7 series in 2016.
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Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Mike Wuerthele
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Mikey Campbell
