Price is perhaps that biggest drawback of Apple’s iPhone X. Now a budget version that looks like the same phone is being prepared by the Silicon Valley giant. However, the cheaper version would not have the some of the notable features such as of 3D Touch according to some reports.

Many are expecting the new cheaper version that would be about $300 cheaper would be a massive hit in the emerging markets like China and India. That consequently means that the Taiwanese contractors that manufacture all those iPhones would have plenty of business.

It is expected that Taipei-based Pegatron would get a bulk of the orders because the firm is a specialist in LCD screens which is a feature of the of the cheaper version according to analysts. The bottom line of the 11 year company would be boosted by an increase in orders and would better pit it against its rival and market leader and dominant assembler of iPhones – Foxconn Technology.

It “believes that Pegatron will be the major EMS [electronic manufacturing services] supplier for this budget version”, said TrendForce, a Taipei-based market research firm.

According to Eddie Han, a senior industry analyst with the Taipei-based Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute, about 60% of the 2018 budget for iPhone orders would go to Pegatron.

Han says that the expertise that the company assembles LCD models of phones is the reason. AT the same time, another rival for Pegatron could be Wistron – another Taiwanese assembler, but the company is under the scanner on suspicion that it might have used unauthorized components in some earlier iPhones. “As the production of Wistron’s LCD iPhones is likely to deferred, Pegatron is likely to benefit, as it will secure more shares in iPhone orders this year,” Han says.

And because it specializes in assembling devices with higher-end OLED displays, therefore Foxconn would not compete for budget iPhone orders/

“Pegatron has become one of Apple’s major manufacturers,” says Mo Jia, an analyst with the high-tech industry research firm Canalys in Shanghai. He added that manufacturing products for Apple’s products accounts for a large portion of Foxconn’s revenue. Appel would also be helped because it would be able to reduce some of its dependency Foxconn.

However, Pegatron has received Apple orders on earlier occasions also. The company has bene identified a major assembler of iPhones year after year by tech analysts in Asia. A large part of that manufacturing is done at the Chinese factory of the company because of lower labor costs there compared to Taiwan.

Pegatron has spent about 400 million yuan ($58.4 million) in China to get more orders from Apple for iPhones with OLED screens, Mo says.

There has however been no comment made by Apple.

Apple was described as “a rather important client” by a Pegatron spokeswoman last month and published in the Forbes magazine. The company however never mentions the amount of business it gets from Apple. The spokesperson said that the company values “all clients” and their product launches.

(Adapted from Forbes.com)

Categories: Economy & Finance, Strategy, Sustainability, Uncategorized