Apple supplier Japan Display alludes to increased iPhone orders ahead of Sept. 9 event
Japan Display CEO Mitsuru Homma dropped some clues regarding Apple's upcoming iPhone release on Thursday, saying his company's biggest client, widely thought to be Apple, is increasing orders despite a soft Chinese market.
Homma in an interview with Reuters outlined Apple's seemingly insatiable demand for iPhone screens, suggesting the company expects high levels of consumer interest when it announces this year's handset refresh. He added that economic headwinds in China don't appear to be a concern for Apple.
"They're coming to us with more orders, saying 'give us more, give us more.' They keep increasing," Homma said.
The executive's comments come after Apple CEO Tim Cook allayed fears over a wavering Chinese market in a rare email to CNBC's Jim Cramer. Citing daily updates on Apple's Chinese business, Cook said the company experienced "strong growth" through July and August.
"Growth in iPhone activations has actually accelerated over the past few weeks, and we have had the best performance for the App Store in China during the last 2 weeks," Cook said.
With a growing middle class and constantly expanding LTE network infrastructure, China is a key growth market for Apple. As such, the company has ramped up efforts to sell its products in the region. For example, Apple is looking to triple the number of brick-and-mortar Apple Stores in China by mid-2016.
Apple is widely expected to announce a next-generation iPhone lineup at a special event on Sept. 9, which could also see the debut of a new Apple TV.
Homma in an interview with Reuters outlined Apple's seemingly insatiable demand for iPhone screens, suggesting the company expects high levels of consumer interest when it announces this year's handset refresh. He added that economic headwinds in China don't appear to be a concern for Apple.
"They're coming to us with more orders, saying 'give us more, give us more.' They keep increasing," Homma said.
The executive's comments come after Apple CEO Tim Cook allayed fears over a wavering Chinese market in a rare email to CNBC's Jim Cramer. Citing daily updates on Apple's Chinese business, Cook said the company experienced "strong growth" through July and August.
"Growth in iPhone activations has actually accelerated over the past few weeks, and we have had the best performance for the App Store in China during the last 2 weeks," Cook said.
With a growing middle class and constantly expanding LTE network infrastructure, China is a key growth market for Apple. As such, the company has ramped up efforts to sell its products in the region. For example, Apple is looking to triple the number of brick-and-mortar Apple Stores in China by mid-2016.
Apple is widely expected to announce a next-generation iPhone lineup at a special event on Sept. 9, which could also see the debut of a new Apple TV.
Comments
Plausible deniability.
I figured the equivalent new iPhone will be $750 tax ($802.50) for awhile and don't anticipate any killer features to justify spending $300 more.
What do you all think? Good move?
Wife is not obsessed with the tech unless there's a clear use case for her day to day life.
This is huge news IMO. Pretty much seals the deal that Apple expects 6S sales to be dynamite. The stock right now is priced for Apple to have revenue fall. Once we see earnings in Oct and Apple guides to 10-15% revenue growth for the Dec Qtr we see this stock go back to the $130 level. Then with holiday hype we could test $150 by mid December.
I certainly hope you're right about the prospects for AAPL's rise. However, short-term moves in Apple's stock price often don't make any sense...
The only potential problem I see here is the improved camera supposedly coming in the 6S.
"Widely thought to be" = someone somewhere put forth the theory that Apple was their customer, this got repeated by rumor websites, and by the time these rumors reached AppleInsider, it seemed to be "widely thought to be Apple purple monkey dishwasher." That's all the proof you need for a rumor
But seriously, there's no economic incentive to do further investigation. The story with a carefully crafted headline will bring in the same click traffic, regardless of any confirmation. And the best you could do was corroborate what multiple deep throats in the supply chain are willing to say off the record; neither Apple nor its suppliers goes on the record to acknowledge a supplier relationship (exceptions exist, such as Intel, AMD, GTAT). Apple knows their supply chain is leaky, so they're not naive. but there will be no official confirmation.