Apple juggles its supply line periodically, as the iPhone maker works to keep quality up while attempting to keep expenses down. It appears Apple is doing that again, as Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple has tapped a relatively new supplier for camera lenses for its upcoming iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models.
Kuo says Apple has tapped Sunny Optical to be the largest supplier of the wide camera lenses for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models. He says that the supplier will make two different versions of the wide camera lens: a high-end one for the iPhone 14 Pro models and a lower-end version for standard iPhone 14 models.
The shipment allocation of Sunny Optical’s high-end wide 7P lens (used in two high-end iPhone 14 Pro) and lower-end wide 7P lens (used in two lower-end iPhone 14) was 50–60% and 55- 65%, respectively. The proportion of the supply of Largan and Genius is about the same.
Kuo says that Sunny Optical has increased its capacity and plans to continue to go after Largan and Genius, two other suppliers of the company.
My latest survey is as follows:
- The shipment allocation of Sunny Optical’s high-end wide 7P lens (used in two high-end iPhone 14 Pro) and lower-end wide 7P lens (used in two lower-end iPhone 14) was 50–60% and 55- 65%, respectively. The proportion of the supply of Largan and Genius is about the same.
- Sunny Optical’s capacity has increased significantly, so the company will continue the price war to obtain more Apple orders and raise utilization.
- Among iPhone lenses, the wide lens is the largest contributor to profit. Hence, the critical impact of Sunny Optical’s significant market share gain of the wide lens on Largan and Genius is profit, not revenue.
- Largan’s wide 7P lens ASP is 15–25% higher than that of Sunny Optical and Genius. Therefore, Sunny Optical’s market share gain has a lower negative impact on Largan’s profit.
- Sunny Optical may become the main supplier of the ToF lens for iPhone 15 in 2023. Genius is the main supplier of the existing ToF lenses, so that it will be more negatively affected than Largan.
Apple is expected to unveil its new iPhone 14 lineup at an event in September where the company is expected to debut its Apple Watch Series 8, and possibly other products, such as the much-rumored AirPods Pro 2.
(Via iMore)