“Strong demand for large-screen iPhones helped Apple Inc.’s major assembler, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., achieve its highest first-quarter profit growth in a decade,” Lorraine Luk reports for The Wall Street Journal. “Hon Hai Friday reported a 56% rise from a year earlier in its first-quarter earnings. The earnings rise beat the 33% the company reached in the fourth quarter—usually a peak season, as consumers tend to spend more on gadgets during the year-end holiday season.”
“Hon Hai, which derives almost half of its revenue from Apple, has been seeking growth drivers beyond contract manufacturing as competition for Apple’s orders intensify and wages in China—where it does its manufacturing—continue to rise,” Luk reports. “The bottom line got a boost from a 40% jump in the number of iPhones sold by Apple in its fiscal second quarter ended March 28.”
“‘A lot of consumers are still in the process of replacing their old phones with large-screen iPhones,’ said Kylie Huang, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets. ‘I also expect the next-generation iPhones slated for launch in the fall will be even more popular than the current versions because of some exciting new features,'” Luk reports. “The next iPhones’ screens will add sensors to detect how hard a user is pressing, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal in March, but the size and resolution of the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays won’t be changed.”
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MacDailyNews Take: Behold the power of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Force Touch will be an important differentiator. There is no need whatsoever to change “the size” or the “resolution of the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays.”