Prolific Apple Supply Chain Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo Reportedly Resigns from KGI Securities

Longtime Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities has reportedly resigned his position at the Taiwanese firm for greener pastures.

According to a new report from Chinese-language publication China Times, Kuo, known for often having an inside track on Apple’s product plans during the six-and-a-half years he worked at KGI, left the firm last Friday, April 27. While his destination is unknown, the Times suggested that his focus will probably “extend to more emerging industries.”

According to Kuo’s LinkedIn profile, he joined KGI in January 2012. Prior to this, he worked as an analyst for Concord Securities, another Taiwanese financial firm, and at the hit-and-miss daily Taiwanese IT newspaper Digitimes.

Ming-Chi Kuo has been one of the most valuable and prolific sources of rumors about Apple’s unreleased products since 2010. His research notes were typically delivered information accumulated from Apple’s supply chain partners in Taiwan and other Asian countries. Due to the reliability of his sources, the anticipation of forthcoming products from Apple was rather accurate.

While his track record is not perfect, several of his high-profile rumors turned out to be accurate. For instance, the analyst accurately predicted the iPhone X back in 2016, saying the company was working on a device featuring a 5.8-inch display, a glass back, and a metal frame. Other times, Kuo predicted that Apple would ditch the headphone jack in the iPhone 7, along with the addition of several other features like stereo speakers, a water resistant construction, a glossy jet black color, and more.

Kuo was making Apple forecasts as recently as last week, suggesting that this fall’s rumoured 6.1-inch LCD iPhone will adopt new touch technology and might forego 3D Touch to keep prices down. Indeed, the analyst appears to have been the first to predict that Apple will ship the 6.1-inch device as well as 5.8- and 6.5-inch OLED models.

While his reasons for departing KGI are yet unknown, his absence will certainly deprive the Apple rumor mill of some of the early tips it has become used to over the past several years.

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