You are currently viewing SemiWiki as a guest which gives you limited access to the site. To view blog comments and experience other SemiWiki features you must be a registered member. Registration is fast, simple, and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
Apple has asked suppliers to build up to 78M phones for the highest production in two years and it will be a dual glass phone according to reports from Taiwan. Apple must have some very interesting developments coming up to support such numbers. I feel it will have to do with not only the product, but the ecosystem. As with all Apple products, secrecy abounds. Any thoughts or speculation welcome. A conflicting report just one day earlier predicted a drop in business for TSM due to declining Apple orders. It seems there is a real split in views on Apple.
Taiwan's Economic Daily News reports Apple (AAPL+1.7%) has ordered contract manufacturers to produce 72M-78M iPhone 7 units this year, a record figure for a new iPhone and above analyst estimates of ~65M.
Apple is outperforming on a day the Nasdaq is up 0.3%. As are chip suppliers Cirrus Logic (CRUS+3.1%), Skyworks (SWKS+3.3%), Qorvo (QRVO+2.7%), and InvenSense (INVN+4.6%). Over in Taipei, Foxconn parent Hon Hai Precision (OTC:HNHAF) rose 4.6%, and fellow iPhone manufacturer Pegatron (OTCGTRF) rose 9.9%. TSMC (TSM+2.7%), which is believed to be the exclusive manufacturer of Apple's A10 processor (expected to go into the iPhone 7), is also doing well.
The report comes with Apple having guided calendar Q2 revenue to be down 13%-17% Y/Y due to soft iPhone 6S sales. The rumor mill has indicated the iPhone 7 will feature a dual-camera array and a 256GB storage option, and do away with the 3.5mm headphone jack. The 9.7" iPad Pro's improved display suggests display enhancements are also possible.
Before the iPhone, RIM’s BlackBerry was the king of smartphones. They seemed unstoppable, because by most accounts, they were the best and most successful at what most smartphones were for at the time: email and phone calls.
When the iPhone came out, the BlackBerry continued to do well for a little while. But the iPhone had completely changed the game — it changed what smartphones were for, from basic business-focused email devices to entire consumer personal computers with desktop-class operating systems and rich app ecosystems....
While this is a good news (at least for Apple) I do not think it means that Apple actually ordered this specific number of phones. It's just a guidance for their vendors which might be adjusted if actual demand does not materialize (just like it happened with iPhone 6S couple of months ago). I am curious as to why Apple got so optimistic all of a sudden. There must be some ground for this optimism (I don't believe they would do it just to manipulate stock price)
Why not? I mean, 65M would have been considered a "normal" forecast for Apple, 72-78M is definitely huge, but again, they could always correct the number by lowering their demand later on.
Apple simply doesn't want to be unprepared if things should go extremely well, so they are shooting for the best guess scenario (and by doing so they can also influence the market right now). On top of that, since they sold less 6s phones, they hope to get those orders back with the iPhone 7. If the iPhone 7 should not sell well, of course they will be in big troubles, no doubt.
GTRF