Launch supply of Apple's new iPad Pro could be constrained as the supply of panels for the 12.9-inch device faces shortages, DigiTimes reported Tuesday. As per their supply chain analysis, iPad Pro shipments are expected to reach less than 3 million units in the fourth quarter of this year, which amounts to an average of one million iPad Pros a month.
Apple's partnership with the now bankrupt GT Advanced Technologies has crashed spectacularly, but that didn't stop the Cupertino firm from seeking out alternative sapphire suppliers for the coating on the stainless steel Apple Watch's screen. And it's found out in Russia, the country's Sputnik News newspaper reported Wednesday.
Tuesday, a fresh new report claimed Apple's been seeking additional battery providers for upcoming new iPhones, presumed to be marketed as ‘iPhone 6s’ and ‘iPhone 6s Plus’.
Apple is now sourcing more batteries for iOS devices from Chinese suppliers which have caught up with their Taiwanese competitors in terms of sufficient battery core supply and production capacity.
Quanta Computer, which assembles the Apple Watch, has been plagued with poor yield rates resulting in capacity problems that have led to limited shipments of the device. As a result, Apple has been struggling to meet orders and has been unable to roll out the device to additional markets to this date.
But production woes are now a thing of the past as Quanta vice chairman CC Leung confirmed solving production bottlenecks, according to a report Friday by DigiTimes, a somewhat reliable Taiwanese trade publication.
One Apple supplier's misery is another Apple supplier's fortune. Two of Apple's key display suppliers — Sharp and LG Display — are not enjoying quite the same positive effects from working with the Cupertino firm. At one end of the spectrum is LG Display, an exclusive supplier of flexible OLED panels for the Apple Watch.
The company now dominates the smartwatch display market with a ninety percent market share thanks to its lucrative contract with Apple, as per Business Korea.
On the other is Japan-based Sharp, one of Apple's display suppliers that has barely managed to avoid collapse after posting an annual net loss of a whopping $1.9 billion, according to The Financial Times on Thursday.
Apple is having issues manufacturing the 1.5-inch AMOLED screen for the Apple Watch, and as a result, has cut initial production and shipment targets in half, according to UDN Mobile.
Citing sources in Apple's supply chain, the Taiwanese publication says Apple has cut shipments from between 2.5 to 3 million units to between 1.25 and 1.5 million units.
Apple has commission its suppliers to build five to six million Watch units in the first quarter of 2015, ahead of its April release, The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported Tuesday.
Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Inc is the main assembler of the wrist-worn device. Half of the first-quarter production order is earmarked for the entry-level $349 Apple Watch Sport model, or about three million units.
Apple has informed its supply chain partners that it will no longer tolerate the charging of recruitment fees to new hires, the company said in its annual Supplier Responsibility report on Wednesday. The practice is common in countries like China, where labor is in short supply, and manufacturers use third-party brokers to help staff their factories.
“It is in essence bonded servitude,” Apple's Senior Vice President of Operations Jeff Williams tells Bloomberg, describing a scenario in which a factory new-hire is forced to take on a huge debt before they even begin work. "That fee needs to be paid by the supplier and Apple ultimately bears that fee when we pay the supplier and we’re OK doing that."
Apple supplier Sony has announced a new 21-megapixel mobile camera sensor, dubbed the Exmor RS IMX230, that could see itself in a future iOS device after the sensor begins shipping in April 2015. The IMX230 camera uses a stacked CMOS imaging sensor design, allowing for faster auto-focusing and better image quality. It also features 4K HDR video.
Following unconfirmed reports that an unknown portion of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus units with 128 gigabytes of storage exhibit random boot looping and unexpected crashes, Apple has reportedly switched to using a different type of NAND flash technology.
The new iPhones use triple-level cell (TLC) NAND flash technology, but BusinessKorea reported Friday that the Cupertino firm will be switching to multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus going forward.
An Apple supplier has once gain come under scrutiny for labor violations. Both Green America and China Labor Watch are reporting that Catcher, who is responsible for making iPad and MacBook casings for the company, is endangering and exploiting its workers.
At its factory in Suqian, China, Catcher is accused of failing to provide adequate protective equipment for employees handling toxic materials, and various other safety violations. The manufacturer is also charged with forcing overtime: 10+ hours per day, 6 days a week.
Apple is once again being criticized for the behavior of one of its Asian supply chain partners. The Fair Labor Association (or FLA) has released a new report, auditing two factories operated by the company's partner Quanta, and it found quite a bit of non-compliance at both facilities.
The issues detailed in the report range from inappropriate recruitment fees, to extended overtime. In fact, the FLA found that 62% of Quanta employees at its Changshu plant failed to receive mandatory rest days at least once over a three-month period during the fourth quarter of 2012...