Sales were down 19% in the first quarter for Foxconn, a major Apple manufacturing partner. The decline is reportedly due primarily to lower than expected iPhone sales.
Total sales were $808.97 billion Taiwan, or $26.96 billion U.S., at Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., also known as Foxconn, in the quarter spanning from January to March, according to Reuters. The 19 percent year-over-year decline was attributed to “disappointing demand for the iPhone” in the report published on Wednesday.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo was cited in the report. Kuo said that while a quarterly decline was expected, a year-over-year drop was not. Estimates say that as much as 70% of Foxconn’s revenue comes from assembling the iPhone and iPad.
“This shows that Hon Hai’s revenue depends too much on Apple, and iPhone orders corrected more than expected,” Kuo said.
News like this will likely continue to drive speculation that Apple’s upcoming quarterly earnings report will be disappointing. The company should report January-to-March results on April 23rd.
Todays Reuters article flies in the face of previous reports that Apple’s share of the smartphone market is actually increasing.