Apple Orders 15 Million iPhone 5s to Launch September

Taiwan-based notebook maker Pegatron Technology is estimated to have landed orders for 15 million iPhone 5s (iPhone 4S) from Apple and is set to start shipping in September of 2011, according to sources from upstream component makers. In response, Pegatron declined to comment about its cooperation with clients.

Due to its cooperation with Apple for iPhone 4, Pegatron, in 2010, significantly expanded its plants, human power and equipment aiming satisfy the orders for 10 million CDMA iPhone 4s; however, since the Apple's CDMA iPhone 4 sales were lower than expected in the first quarter of 2011, Pegatron shipped less than four million CDMA iPhone 4s, causing the company's utilization rate to drop to only 50% with its gross margin also drop to 1.8% in the quarter.

The sources pointed out that as the iPhone 5, which does not seem to have any major update from iPhone 4, is already set for shipment in September, they are already started supplying components to Pegatron with Pegatron's plants in Shanghai, China also recently started hiring for manpower.