Apple will launch the next iPhone in September, and a 7-inch iPad in August, says DigiTimes. The claims are based on Taiwanese supply chain sources, who add that Pegatron has landed orders for the new iPhone, while Foxconn will handle the 7-inch iPad. The report further suggests that Pegatron will build a new 10-inch iPad for launch in the fourth quarter of this year.
Pegatron on Wednesday became the latest company to reach a patent deal in Microsoft's Android licensing campaign. In a boilerplate statement, Microsoft said Pegatron would pay a royalty on every Android or Chrome OS device it manufactured. The two kept up Microsoft's typical request that the terms of the deal not be made public.
A so-called iPad mini will ship in the third quarter of the year as a "counter attack" to upcoming Windows tablets, a Chinese website claims. NetEase moreover reports that the smaller iPads will cost between $249 and $299, with 6 million units ready at launch. Two Asian manufacturers -- Hon Hai (Foxconn) and Pegatron -- will allegedly be responsible for production.
Apple inspected a Pegatron plant building iPad 2s mere hours before an explosion injured at least 59 people, according to workers interviewed by NPR. The number of injured was initially pegged at 61, but Apple currently claims 59. NPR says it met with 25 victims of the blast last week, such as He Wenwen, who was calibrating a machine used to polish iPad 2 backs when the explosion happened.
Fair Labor Association chief Auret van Heerden updated his opinions in a conversation on Friday that signaled possibly drastic action ahead. In talking to Bloomberg, he partly rescinded an earlier warm reaction and said the group was "finding tons of issues" at the contract manufacturer. He wouldn't say what these were, but he anticipated "very significant announcements" soon.
Pegatron, a Taiwan-based manufacturer that helps makes Apple's iPhones as well as numerous electronics for other companies, said it had not been informed of any pending inspections of factory work conditions prior to announcements from Apple and the Fair Labor Association (FLA) that it would audit Pegatron and Quanta Computer this spring. The statement by Apple also confirmed that FLA inspections have already begun for its principle supplier Foxconn.
A tentative rumor has had Pegatron allegedly forced to choose between manufacturing ASUS' Zenbooks and Apple's iOS devices. Taiwan's Commercial Times had heard that Apple was supposedly unhappy with the similarity to the MacBook Air and didn't want one of its own contractors to be making what was perceived to be a clone. If it happened, production wouldn't stop until at least March and would be outsourced to a nearby contractor like Compal or Wistron.
Two manufacturers in the Apple supply chain, Foxconn and Pegatron, have been asked to start assembling next-generation iPads for launch in early March, says Macotakara. The Japanese site claims to have learned the information from Chinese sources, who add that the hardware should look almost identical to the iPad 2. This includes button arrangements, the dock connector, and the positioning of the front- and rear-facing cameras.
Apple is switching up its outsourcing strategy, according to upstream supply chain sources cited by Digitimes. Under the new arrangement, Pegatron is expected to concentrate mainly on iPad production with the iPhone serving as an "auxiliary" in 2013. On the flipside of the coin, Foxconn will reportedly focus on the iPhone, with the iPad serving as secondary output.
A December 17th explosion at a Pegatron-owned planet in Shanghai was connected to aluminum dust generated while polishing iPad shells, says a group called China Labor Watch. Aluminum dust is known to highly combustible, and CLW suggests that the blast on the 17th was similar to an accident at a Foxconn plant in May, which the company blamed on "combustible dust."
Apple's iPad production may have seen an at least temporary setback after reports late Sunday of an explosion at a yet-to-open plant from Pegatron subsidiary Riteng in Shanghai. The blast on the fourth floor on Saturday injured between 57 and 61, depending on conflicting claims. There hadn't been a fire, but some equipment had been damaged.
Apple's frequent iPhone supplier Pegatron is under Chinese government scrutiny for pollution, the company mentioned on Monday. Similar to the problems faced by Catcher, environmental studies mentioned by Digitimes had Pegatron accused of excess pollution, such as waste gas or simply noise pollution. Two of its subsidaries have also been fined for releasing polluted water into the public stream.
Concerns that Pegatron might have lost iPhone orders due to demand might have been premature, Taiwan's Commercial Times claimed Wednesday. The contract maker at one point had been said making just 10 million across its entire production run but was now once again slated to make 15 million. About two million to 2.5 million of those would be made in the fall.
iPods are expected to account for only 7 percent of Apple's 2011 revenue, sources with Taiwanese component suppliers claim. The amount is small enough that firms in the iPod supply chain are allegedly shifting focus away to iPhones and iPads. Current orders for iPod parts are described as being "much weaker" than in past years.
The only next-generation iPhone in production is a mild upgrade known as model N94, sometimes nicknamed the iPhone 4S, says Concord Securites' Ming-Chi Kuo. Based on sources, the analyst suggests that there are no signs of a redesigned iPhone 5 in Apple's supply chain. He moreover claims that the new phone will continue to use 512MB of RAM and a 3.5-inch display, despite repeated reports of a larger LCD measuring at least 3.7 inches. Kuo adds that the camera module's height should be almost the same as the iPhone 4's; Sony alleged started shipping sensors to Apple manufacturers in July, and help from OmniVision is expected to come in September or October.
Apple's iPhone 5 production is now approaching full steam, the supply chain found late Wednesday. Foxconn, Apple's key iPhone builder, is now believed to be making 150,000 of the new model per day. Manufacturing is believed brisk enough that Apple will ship out five million to six million iPhone 5s in September and 22 million for the fall.
Two simultaneous discoveries have helped outlined the since-started production of the iPhone 5. Chinese tipsters said Monday that Apple contract partners Foxconn and Pegatron were manufacturing the devices without firmware. The step seen by MacOtakara wouldn't be surprising given the OS' uncompleted state but will leave Apple with a relatively short interval between having a finished OS and when it can ship.
Barnes & Noble's sequel to the Nook Color could be ready in days if a rumor from the supply chain is real. The design is supposedly due this month with a similar seven-inch screen and the same Android support for apps, e-mail, and other extras. Digitimes understood that Inventec would be the main manufacturer with Pegatron helping out and TPK making the touchscreen panels.
A new report issued by five Chinese NGOs accuses Apple of using known polluters as suppliers, and taking "advantage of the loopholes in developing countries’ environmental management systems." The Financial Times writes that the document has escalated a long-running standoff between Apple and one of the report's authors, Ma Jun, who heads the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs. Only hours before the report was released, the company finally agreed to meet with Ma to talk about his accusations. The director says that Apple claimed some of the factories on his list aren't Apple suppliers, but without going into detail.
Samsung might be grooming its notebook business in hopes of buying HP's spun-out PC business. Insiders in the part stream claimed Samsung was talking to Taiwan companies to outsource some notebook orders to companies like Compal, Pegatron, or Quanta in what could be the first step of handling HP's work. As HP moves over 40 million PCs a year, it would need those suppliers to keep production going, especially as Taiwan's suppliers are good at keeping costs under control, Digitimes was told.
An unusually vociferous response Friday insisted that the iPhone 5 would ship in October. Digging back to "several sources" led to being told that Apple's latest would miss September. The AllThingsD clue lacked a specific unveiling date, but earlier claims it wouldn't be September 7 were purportedly accurate.
Pegatron's plans to be a second iPhone 5 supplier are still on track, the supply chain divulged late Tuesday. Its order is now expected to be 10 million rather than the previously hinted at 15 million, but it would still ship finished devices in September. The data partly contradicts talk that the new Apple hardware might not appear until October, since Pegatron would be shipping directly to Apple and customers.
In spite of a seeming loss, Pegatron may have landed a key deal to make the iPad 3, insiders claimed Thursday. The Taiwan contract manufacturer was said to have won a deal to ship some of the tablets alongside Apple's usual manufacturer, Foxconn (Hon Hai). The Taiwan Economic News source had most individual suppliers remaining the same.
ASUS' tablet shipments are due to surge enough that it may become one of the largest competitors in the field, touchscreen panel tipsters slipped out late Thursday. Once hit by chronic shortages, the company's shipments of Android tablets like the Eee Pad Transformer should reach 1.2 million to 1.5 million in the summer and only scale up further in the fall, according to Digitimes. Orders have supposedly jumped to include as many as four to 4.5 million tablets in the last six months of 2011.
Pegatron's would-be iPad 3 production has supposedly been squeezed out by Foxconn. Industry rumors backed Apple's original call for a second manufacturer for the iPad 3, but Foxconn has supposedly protected its supply and "persuaded" Apple to avoid extra suppliers, Digitimes said. Pegatron's iPhone 5 production was still on tap but now had a range of "at least" 10 million units.
Apple may take on a second contractor to make the iPad 3, according to industry rumors Monday. Pegatron, already in line to build iPhone 5s, is considered a frontrunner to build the tablets along with original producer Foxconn. The wake of the Foxconn Chengdu blast has led Apple to look at a second producer, Digitimes heard.
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.
Shortages at Foxconn triggered by the Japanese earthquake could limit ambitious plans from Apple for the spring, part suppliers said late Wednesday. Foxconn's Chengdu plant, used mostly for the iPad 2, is reportedly both lacking materials due to the quake as well as enough workers. Combined with problems at the main Shenzhen plant, the company might not make goals of shipping about 7.5 million to nine million iPads.
Purported supply insiders said Wednesday night that Pegatron had been asked to dramatically scale back its production of CDMA iPhone 4 models. The Taiwan supplier had originally been tasked with making 10 million but was said to have been given a "significant reduction" in orders that would cut that number down to five million. Reasons why weren't given by Digitimes' sources.
The manufacturing of an upcoming HTC tablet, thus far dubbed Flyer, is expected to be outsourced to Pegatron, a Chinese daily reported on Wednesday. This would mark a first for HTC, which has produced all of its products in house to date. The seven-inch tablet will sport a touchscreen and, despite a native tablet OS being available, Android 2.3.
Pegatron has already earned enough trust from Apple to start manufacturing the iPhone 5, part makers said Monday night. The company is due to make at least 10 million to 12 million CDMA iPhone 4 units but has reportedly been picked for an initial iPhone 5 order of "at least" 10 million units. The time interval for making the new devices wasn't mentioned by Digitimes' insiders, but production might start in May.
Second-generation iPad production should begin in February, while the fifth-generation iPhone will start assembly in May, says China's Commercial Times. iPad production is only expected to begin with a "small pilot," which might once again put a crunch on early availability. Second-quarter shipments however are forecast to grow dramatically, potentially exceeding the quantity of first-gen devices delivered in the last quarter of 2010.
One of Apple's key partners for making the CDMA iPhone has already had to increase its production estimates for anticipated demand, part suppliers said Monday night. Pegatron would pass its original estimates of 10 million iPhones to make between 12 million and 15 million for 2011. Apple's demand "continues to stay strong" and forced Pegatron to step up its efforts, Digitimes understood.
Toshiba is said to bring three new tablets to CES in January, with a release date to follow in the first quarter of the year, industry insiders reported today. While the PC maker itself didn't confirm this report, unnamed sources for Digitimes said the production of the computers will be outsourced to Quanta, Compal and Pegatron, all three of which are also based in Taiwan. Each will have a different OS, with the 11.6-inch model most likely to sport Windows 7 while the two 10.1-inch models will probably use Google's Android and Chrome OS.
(Update: more Pegatron leaks) Foxconn has been brought on to help take some of the production workload for the CDMA iPhone, industry contacts believed on Wednesday. Known in China through its parent label Hon Hai, Foxconn has reportedly been asked to share manufacturing "evenly" with the existing manufacturer Pegatron. The Taiwan Economic News suggests that Foxconn alone has been asked to make 15 million iPhones through all of 2011; by extension, as many as 30 million CDMA iPhones would be made across the two companies.
Verizon, and possibly Apple as well, may be beefing up the ranks of its technical support lines ahead of a CDMA iPhone. Both Ryla and Teleperformance are hiring hundreds of support agents for a deliberately anonymous cellular carrier in several states, including California, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. Both Apple and Verizon have used Teleperformance in the past, and those in Lindon, Utah would also handle computers, MP3 players and smartphones.
Microsoft may have lost key Taiwan phone manufacturers after the costs and long delays for Windows Phone 7, companies based in the area reportedly said Wednesday. Most of them, including relative heavyweights such as Compal, Foxconn, Inventec and Pegatron, have committed to developing for Android over the next two to three years and aren't ready to switch. The Digitimes contacts further allege that they consider Microsoft's licensing fee too expensive when Google gives away Android for free.
Pegatron has been identified tonight in a story as the contractor making over three million CDMA iPhones at the end of the year. The Taiwan firm would start in November and make at least three million to four million iPhones in its first three months. Production would top 10 million by mid-2011, according to DigiTimes' contacts.
HTC's rumored Android 3.0 tablet may aim for the high end of the space to claim an edge over Apple. A purported leak from component suppliers has it getting a very sharp 1280x720 screen as well as NVIDIA's dual-core Tegra 250 processor to drive it. The Digitimes contacts also gave it an unusually large 2GB of RAM and 32GB of built-in flash storage.
TechCrunch today said it had found evidence that Fusion Garage's decision to break its partnership for the CrunchPad and sell it as the Joojoo was a deliberate "conspiracy" to exploit its partner's work. Michael Arrington pointed to e-mail that allegedly showed the company working with its PR firm McGrath Power to engineer the reasons for taking the Linux tablet out of its creator's control. Among the evidence given, Fusion Garage purportedly faked investor messages citing business plans and had employees who would aware they would "really sucker these people" at the website, although the latter might refer to Pegatron and not TechCrunch.
Implication in a kickback scandal should not hurt Pegatron's OEM deals with Apple, the Taiwanese manufacturer suggests. The subsidiary named in the case, Kaedar Electronics, was only acquired in 2008 -- after alleged crimes -- and is not involved in its parent's supply chain for iPod and iPhone products, according to Pegatron. A spokesman earlier stated that Kaedar has been responsible for supplying iPod packaging for several years.
Pegatron has admitted that one of its subsidiary companies, Kaedar Electronics, paid brokerage commission to an intermediary for services related to its Apple contracts. Kaedar is one of several companies reportedly involved in a kickback scheme spearheaded by Apple executive Paul Shin Devine, who was arrested late last week.
Foxconn is building a new factory dedicated primarily to iPhone production in what could be a sign of Apple's expansion to other US carriers, reports from China's Xinhua News Agency claimed on Monday. The plant, which will start construction later this month, will be handled by the local subsidiary Futaihua Precision Electronics and already has workers. Over 500 workers are already producing iPhones on a rented line at another factory, the media outlet said.
Production plans for a CDMA iPhone were reportedly firmed up on Thursday with new details. The device, which would be a straight adaptation of the iPhone 4, would start shipping to Apple in the fall from factories in Shanghai. Previous rumors have had production starting in August or September, giving Apple roughly a two-month build-up of iPhone supplies before a rumored Verizon launch in November.
The Verizon iPhone could be on store shelves in November, Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar claimed today. Checks with manufacturers have ASUS' manufacturing arm Pegatron building iPhones soon enough that it could ship two months before the end of the year. Most rumors have had production starting as early as August but no later than September, giving Apple enough time to have a large quantity on hand for a Verizon launch.
Apple is likely to bring the cost of materials back up to where it was a year ago when it releases the next iPhone, according to an early estimate. While making a 16GB iPhone 3GS has dropped to about $156, the new model is expected by UBM TechInsights to go back up to between $169 to $175, or about as much as the previous phone did when new. The phone's biggest price hike would come from a higher resolution screen that could cost $25, or $9 more than it does now.
ASUS wants to transform itself into 'another Apple' and has a device in the works to help it along, company CEO Jonney Shih said Wednesday. He hopes his Taiwan firm will be put on the Mac maker's level but serve as an open-source alternative that uses Android and Chrome OS, not just closed options like Windows.
Apple is signing up a second major manufacturer to produce the fourth-generation iPhone, industry sources claim. Pegatron Technology, an ASUS subsidiary, will allegedly fill in alongside Foxconn, a long-time Apple partner already manufacturing the iPhone 3GS. Though Pegatron has refused to comment one way or another, it has said that its phone shipments should grow significantly during 2010. The company has also landed several other phone contracts, the sources say.
ASUS earlier this week said it plans to contract out its manufacturing operations by spinning off a new company, tentatively called Pegatron Investment Holdings Company, in order to reduce its capital by 85 percent. The new company will sell new shares, with 25 percent retained by ASUS while the other 75 percent will be offered to shareholders, according to an ASUS filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The legal claims behind the lawsuit over CrunchPad rights may be less clear than once thought based on an investigation of the details. Despite claiming to have owned the trademark for the CrunchPad name, Michael Arrington and TechCrunch are now known by Engadget to have only filed for the trademark on November 17th, the same day Fusion Garage announced its split on the tablet project and just three days before the planned launch. Most products' trademarks are settled months before release.
