Apple Watch Series 4 Expected to Gain Second Manufacturer Following 'Much Better Than Expected' Demand

Wednesday September 26, 2018 4:56 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Taiwanese manufacturer Compal Electronics will begin mass production of Apple Watch Series 4 models in November, according to industry sources cited by supply chain-focused publication DigiTimes.

apple watch series 4 trio
Compal will share orders with fellow Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta Computer, which has reportedly reached its maximum capacity for Apple Watch Series 4 production following "much better than expected demand" for the latest models, according to Apple analyst extraordinaire Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo also said Compal will be added as a second supplier of Apple Watch Series 4 models, which entails final assembly of the wearable.

Kuo believes Apple Watch shipments from suppliers to Apple will fall between 18 million and 19.5 million units in 2018. Apple does not disclose Apple Watch sales, grouping the device under its broad "Other Products" category in its earnings reports, alongside the Apple TV, AirPods, HomePod, and so forth.

Apple Watch is the world's most popular smartwatch by many metrics, including market share and revenue. In fact, Apple says the Apple Watch is the world's most popular watch of any kind, having surpassed Rolex.

Many models of the Apple Watch Series 4 ordered on Apple.com today are estimated to be delivered in late October in the United States, lending credence to strong demand, limited supply, or some combination of the two. With a second supplier coming on board in November, availability should improve.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11

Tag: DigiTimes

Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)

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Top Rated Comments

RodThePlod

95 months ago

Apple seem to have hit the ball out of the park with Series 4!

Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)

IUBall22

95 months ago

What first seemed like an unnecessary impulse purchase has now led me to liking it better than iPhone.

Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Jd3774life

95 months ago

Upgraded from Series 0 and man am I impressed! Went from "Hmm been 20 seconds and app hasn't opened..guess i'll just check on my phone" to "Uh... I just clicked the app and its ALREADY LAUNCHED?!!:eek:"

Loving my S4

Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Rogifan

95 months ago

I remember when Mark Wilson at Fast Company wrote this:

You Guys Realize The Apple Watch Is Going To Flop, Right? ('https://www.fastcompany.com/3042987/you-guys-realize-the-apple-watch-is-going-to-flop-right')
Few ('http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/04/technology/apple-watch-flop/index.html') analysts or writers will outright say it, but I will: the Apple Watch is going to flop. And I bet a lot of other people are thinking ('http://www.wsj.com/articles/challenge-of-apple-watch-defining-its-purpose-1424133615') the same thing ('http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/04/technology/apple-watch-flop/index.html') for many good reasons.

And this:

Why The Apple Watch Is Flopping ('https://www.fastcompany.com/3048375/why-the-apple-watch-is-flopping')
Will the Apple Watch recover, and sell 100 million units in two years, like the iPad, or three years, like the iPhone? There’s still time—but not at these rates. (Which, to be fair, are projections based on email receipts hoovered up by Slice, not from Apple itself.) Even with generous rounding errors, the Watch has failed to become the status quo object in wearables. And for Apple, that’s a flop.

So how did this happen? The answer may sound like heresy to those who canonize—or even merely admire—Apple’s designers. What if the Apple Watch, for all its its milled and woven metals, all its appearances on the catwalk, isn’t actually all that well-designed? So far, the Apple Watch doesn’t seem very useful, and it hasn’t proven that fashionable.

And this:

The Apple Watch Is Doing Splendidly If You Completely Lower Your Expectations For Apple ('https://www.fastcompany.com/3048725/the-apple-watch-is-doing-splendidly-if-you-completely-lower-your-expectations-for-apple')
Even the worst-selling Apple product still pushes millions of units into the online and retail channel, but that doesn’t inherently mean that the Apple Watch will become a cultural phenomenon–and it forgets about the core economic principle of opportunity cost (namely, what could Apple have released if they dumped resources from the Apple Watch into a better product?). The iPhone sold 100 million units in three years. The iPad hit the same benchmark in two. The watch has another two Christmas retail seasons to reach that mark. Getting halfway would be more than respectable, but it wouldn’t equate to another Apple zeitgeist-defining moment.

Of course he’s still not done slamming Apple Watch:

The new Apple Watch 4 face is a design crime ('https://www.fastcompany.com/90235701/the-new-apple-watch-4-face-is-a-design-crime')

Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)