Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s top contract manufacturer and the biggest assembler of Apple products, reported rising revenues for the September quarter and a decline in net profit. Revenue for the July-September quarter climbed from NT$1.066 trillion ($33.43 billion) a year earlier to NT$1.075 trillion ($33.7 billion) thanks to brisk sales of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
However, losses produced by Foxconn-owned electronics maker Sharp caused net profit to fall to NY$34.6 billion ($1.09 billion) from NY$37.9 billion ($1.19 billion) a year earlier.
After completing its $3.8 billion acquisition of Sharp in August, Foxconn promised to help Sharp accelerate plans to mass-produce organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays which Apple is considering adopting for iPhones as early as next year.
On the other hand, Sharp’s new CEO recently said he hasn’t yet decided if his firm will commit fully to OLED or stick with more widely used liquid-crystal (LCD) displays. He also alluded that ‘iPhone 8’ would use curved OLED screens and have all-glass design.
In addition to Sharp and Samsung Display, Apple could obtain OLED panels for 2017 iPhones from the struggling Japan Display which just received a $700+ million bailout from the government-backed fund Innovation Network Corp. of Japan.
Sharp recently reported a quarterly net loss of ¥17.9 billion (about $170.8 million). The struggling Japanese company said it would return to profitability by the second half of its fiscal quarter ending March 31.
Source: The Wall Street Journal