KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts Apple, in a move to diversify suppliers, will use manufacturing partner Pegatron to build a majority of the orders for their rumored low-cost iPhone, as well as more than half of all legacy iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S orders.
While Apple has long used Hon-Hai, better known as Foxconn, for the bulk of its manufacturing needs, Kuo believes that Pegatron could become a major contributor to the Cupertino company’s important iPhone business. For 2013, the analyst estimates Pegatron will be responsible for 75 percent of low-cost iPhone orders and 55 percent of iPhone 4 and 4S production.
Apple will continue to use Foxconn for most of its iPhone manufacturing needs, including all production for the FDD-LTE and TDD-LTE iPhone 5S, low-cost TDD-LTE iPhone and continuing current generation iPhone 5. Foxconn will also grab 25% of the orders for the low-cost FDD-LTE iPhone, and will hold a 45% stake in the W-CDMA and CDMA iPhone 4 and 4S models.
Kuo says Pegatron will benefit more from Apple’s 2013 iPhone plans, with its ODM/OEM weighting getting a 9 percent boost to 27 percent this year, up from 18 percent in 2012.
It has also been reported that the Shanghai company is moving the products of other brands off of their assembly lines to accommodate Apple. They are said to be going 100% Apple in the future.
