Pegatron receives orders for 15 million iPhone 5s from Apple
Taiwan-based notebook maker Pegatron Technology is estimated to have landed orders for 15 million iPhone 5s (iPhone 4S) from Apple and is set to start shipping in September of 2011, according to sources from upstream component makers.
Context & Ripple Effects
Pegatron's Apple relationship has been building since it took on CDMA iPhone assembly — an October 2010 report had it expecting to ship 10 million units over 2011 — and by January 2011 sources pointed to Pegatron making a 10 million-unit initial iPhone 5 run. The new figure lifts that estimate to 15 million units, sourced again from upstream component makers rather than either company, so both the volume and the September ship target remain unconfirmed.
The claim lands four days after a DigiTimes report that iPhone 5 and iPad 3 upstream suppliers had begun preparing materials, which fits the same late-2011 launch timeline. If accurate, the order cements Pegatron as a second source of iPhone assembly alongside Apple's established partners, a notable step for a company whose Apple work until now has centered on the CDMA variant.
First-order effects
- Pegatron would need to ramp assembly lines, components inventory, and factory staffing through Q3 to hit a September start for shipments at this volume.
- Apple gains a second, scaled supplier for its flagship iPhone, reducing dependence on any single assembler ahead of what industry sources describe as a September debut and October market arrival.
Second-order effects
- Upstream component makers feeding Pegatron get a larger, firmer demand signal, reinforcing the materials-prep activity reported earlier in the week and pulling more Taiwan-based supply-chain capacity toward the iPhone program.
- Competing assemblers face pressure to match Pegatron's pricing and capacity commitments if Apple continues splitting flagship volumes across vendors.
Third-order effects
- If the multi-source pattern holds, Apple institutionalizes dual-sourcing for flagship devices, shifting bargaining leverage in contract manufacturing toward Taiwanese ODMs able to absorb large seasonal ramps.
- Sustained high-volume iPhone orders would push Pegatron's China labor footprint sharply upward, tying its fortunes more closely to Apple's product cadence than to its legacy notebook business.
The trend: Apple is broadening iPhone assembly beyond a single dominant partner, with Taiwanese ODMs like Pegatron scaling up to share flagship volumes each product cycle.