Summary:
Apple has replaced Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Pegatron with Chinese supplier Luxshare as the exclusive manufacturing partner for its upcoming mixed-reality headset, according to a paywalled report from DigiTimes (via MacRumors).
Per the report, Pegatron finished handing over manufacturing and final assembly operations to Luxshare in March at Apple’s request.
Apple is widely expected to debut its AR/VR headset at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, with an official launch slated for later this year, so the change comes pretty last minute. DigiTimes theorized that the switch could be related to Pegatron relocating some of its production capacity out of China, which will also see the Taiwanese company sell its factory in Shanghai to Luxshare.
Deliberately keeping production in China is a rare move for Apple at this time, given that the tech giant has been trying to move more of its supply chain away from the Asian manufacturing hub as of late.
Pegatron, meanwhile, may not be too sour about the loss as Apple’s first mixed-reality headset is a low-volume product. Apple reportedly only expects to sell a total of one million headsets in the first 12 months, so the company’s suppliers are banking on the long-term potential of the new product category to rake in profits from manufacturing and assembly contracts down the road.
With Luxshare taking over headset production, this will be the first time a Chinese company will be exclusively responsible for manufacturing an Apple product at launch. Historically, Taiwanese partners like Foxconn and Pegatron have been at the forefront of Apple’s initial supply chain for a product.
