A new report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple will only have shipped 2-3 million iPhone X units into distribution channels ahead of its release on November 3rd. However, the analyst believes the worst will soon be over in terms of production difficulties.The biggest hurdle has reportedly been the flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) for the antenna due to its increased complexity.
Special materials, recipes, design, processes, equipments and tests are required for antenna FPCB, as the specifications for iPhone X antenna (supplied by Amphenol (US)) are higher than those of iPhone 8 and only Murata (JP) and Career Tech (6153 TT, NT$30.1, NR) can meet Apple's requirements. Murata (originally with a 60% order allocation or higher) won't be able to resolve its issues before 2Q18, and thus has been fully replaced by second supplier Career. We believe Career will ramp up in November, as capacity expansion takes time, and its materials, recipes, design, processes, equipments and tests are different from those of Murata.
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