Pegatron's Plans to Boost Workforce by 40%, Fueling Lower-Cost iPhone Speculation
Just a day after reporting that its consumer electronics revenue would drop more than expected in the second quarter, perhaps due to weakening iPad mini demand, Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron has announced that it will boost its workforce by 40% in the second half of the year. The significant increase is fueling ongoing rumors of a lower-cost iPhone, as the firm has been reported to be handling production of the device.
Pegatron's Chief Financial Officer Charles Lin told Reuters on Thursday that 60 percent of the company's 2013 revenue would come from the second half.
He declined to comment whether the cheaper iPhone was among the new products to be made in the second half.
Pegatron is a longtime manufacturing partner for Apple, currently handling the iPhone 4S and iPad mini, although the majority of Apple's iOS device assembly is handled by the larger Foxconn. Pegatron currently employs 100,000 workers in its facilities, with yesterday's report indicating that the iPhone 4S and iPad mini each account for more than half of Pegatron's revenue for its communications and consumer electronics divisions respectively.
Popular Stories
As the end of 2023 nears, now is a good opportunity to look back at some of the devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year. Apple products discontinued in 2023 include the iPhone 13 mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro, MagSafe Battery Pack, MagSafe Duo Charger, and leather accessories. Also check out our lists of Apple products discontinued in 2022 and 2021. iPhone Mini ...
Apple with iOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 introduced a new NameDrop feature that is designed to allow users to place Apple devices near one another to quickly exchange contact information. Sharing contact information is done with explicit user permission, but some news organizations and police departments have been spreading misinformation about how functions. As noted by The Washington Post,...
Apple made the first beta of iOS 17.2 available to developers in October. Since then we've seen two more betas, and with each iteration Apple continues to add more new features and changes, many of which users have been anticipating for quite a while. Below, we've listed 26 new things that are coming to your iPhone when the finalized version is publicly released in December. 1. Help You...
Apple will likely release iOS 17.1.2 this week, based on mounting evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs in recent days. As a minor update, iOS 17.1.2 should be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues might be addressed. Some users have continued to experience Wi-Fi issues on iOS 17.1.1, so perhaps iOS 17.1.2 will include the same fix for Wi-Fi...
Cyber Week has taken the place of Black Friday, and you'll find some of the same deals still around for the next few days, although many from Black Friday have now expired. This includes dozens of record low prices on Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, iPhone, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a...
Black Friday 2023 has officially ended, but we're still tracking some of the best deals of the year on Apple products like AirPods, iPad, iPhone, MacBook, and many more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. Specifically, in this article we're...
Top Rated Comments
Megatron: "Do as I command and we will defeat the Autobots once and for all!"
Negatron: "No, not gonna work."
Megatron: "Gaw come on, what did we talk about!"
Negatron: "Autobots always win. You think Optimus Prime is gonna be dead dead, but then he's not dead."
Megatron: "I'm taking this from a robot that turns into a canoe?!"
Negatron: "When there's a battle on a gently moving river, you'll want me."
In context of course, Foxconn announced its own hiring blitz recently. TSMC reportedly now makes the processors. That's three data points. I suspect Apple's been planning this for a while, when you bring in a fourth data point -- record cap expenditure for last two years.
With Samsung out the game and Google reduced to its true status as an iOS user data hijacker with its apps, I'd take these data points as signs that Apple is preparing to really kick some **tt. We can't predict just what Apple has planned, but this is the first iOS release salvo in which Samsung hasn't had any insight into what's coming.
So I suspect things are gonna get waaaay interesting.
The Autobots won't stand a chance! (Sorry, I couldnt resist)
The problem with reports like this is that they are quite useless. For all we know from this report, Pegatron might employ 99,000 workers building tractors, plus 500 each in the communication and consumer electronics division, of which 251 are working on iPhone and iPad mini components.
Also, when has any Apple supplier ever said publicly what percentage of their revenues come from Apple products?