Having Apple on your side can, unsurprisingly, be a massive boon to any manufacturer. But don’t try and play hard ball with Cupertino — as the Taiwan-based Largan Precision could be about to find out.
According to a new report, Apple may shift 30 percent of its orders for the lens modules for the iPhone 6s away from current contractors Largan Precision to Japanese rival company Kantatsu, over Largan’s refusal to lower its prices.
As a manufacturer, you’d think that choosing the week of the new iPhone launch would be a good time to plant a flag refusing to offer Apple favorable pricing — or further discounts — on your products. From the sound of things, though, Apple is more than willing to join Largan in a game of “who will flinch first?”
Taking away 30 percent of Largan’s orders isn’t the same as switching manufacturers altogether, of course, but it’s still enough to wreak havoc with a manufacturer banking on receiving orders for at least the next year.
Market watchers claim that Largan’s revenues for September will be negatively affected by the loss of any iPhone 6s orders, and suggest that the company have difficulty achieving further growth as a result.
As we saw when GT Advanced Technologies revealed Apple’s one-sided terms for manufacturers, life as an Apple supplier can sometimes be tough. But when you’re in a market in which other companies would do virtually anything to get a piece of the iPhone action, you’re not exactly in the best position to dictate terms.
Them’s the breaks, as I’ve heard it said.
Source: Digitimes
