Pegatron lands big deal with Apple for iPhone 5

Part suppliers claimed early Tuesday that Pegatron had obtained a large order for the next-generation iPhone. The company, which currently makes the Verizon iPhone 4, is expected to ship about 15 million of the 2011 iPhone starting from September, earlier than suggested before. The duration of the order wasn't given to Digitimes but would presumably be for the phone's production run and not just one quarter.

The same tips asserted that the iPhone 5 wasn't a major update versus the iPhone 4. Rumors of part supply beginning are purportedly true as Pegatron has already begun receiving parts. A Shanghai plant is also believed to be staffing up to handle the production surge.

Little is known for certain about the new iPhone, although repeated rumors have it getting at least a dual-core A5 processor and an eight-megapixel camera. Whether or not it gets a major redesign isn't evident, but it may have at least some outside changes with a shift in the flash design and a possible edge-to-edge 3.7- or 3.8-inch screen. Verizon has already hinted that it will be dual mode and thus that Pegatron's orders are for the same model that Foxconn will make.

Pegatron may depend heavily on iPhone orders. It had already been slightly burned when its CDMA iPhone 4 orders were lower than expected. The company is hoping to get other device orders from Apple, such as iPads and MacBooks, but is having to fight Foxconn and others that already have contracts. Apple may give Pegatron some iPad orders to diversify its manufacturing base in case someone else has a problem.

In the meantime, Pegatron is pushing Acer for orders and might jump from two million to six million notebooks by the second half of next year.

By Electronista Staff