Amid and despite concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, Apple suppliers, specifically IC backend and verification specialists in Apple’s supply chain, have regained confidence in their revenue performances for 2020 as they are moving to deliver shipments for new entry-level iPhone SE 2 set for launch in the first half of the year while also bracing for the super cycle-inducing release of 5G iPhones in the second half, DigiTimes reports, citing “industry sources.”
Julian Ho and Willis Ke for DigiTimes:
Xintec, now fulfilling orders for packaging DOE (diffractive optical element) components for structured-light 3D sensors reportedly for iPhone SE2, saw its February 2020 revenues rise 3.37% sequentially and shoot up 250% on year to NT$489 million (US$16.3 million), with its revenues for the first two months of the year also surging 170% on year to NT$962 million.
IC testing and verification firm Integrated Service Technology (iST), bolstered by robust verification demand reportedly from TSMC for advanced fabrication and packaging processes for iPhone APs, 5G chips and high performance computing chips, saw its February revenues soar 15.83% on month and 76.19% on year to NT$255 million.
iST has seen clear verification order visibility through the end of the second quarter, with a substantial portion of the orders associated with diverse chip solutions for 5G iPhones, the industry sources said.
MacDailyNews Take: The light at the end of the tunnel.
Still a way to go MDN.
Ms. Polly Anna speaks again (ref’g to headline).
The problem won’t be on the production side it will now be on the demand side. Unemployed people can’t buy thousand dollar phones.
One does wonder why it took Cook so long to develop a full family of phones (cheap to expensive and small to large) but then once it was in place, he abandoned all the small and cheap to chase after super expensive OLED Samsung phones. Cook screwed up big time.
If rumors are to be believed, the next SE model will be little different than a renamed iPhone 8. That is not small or cheap to most people.