Apple to Add New Assembly Partners to Increase iDevice Production

Apple is said to add new manufacturing partners in Asia to increase production of iDevices, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Wistron Corp., a company based in Taiwan, may be known for those familiar with BlackBerry’s or Nokia’s supply chain because it currently produces smartphones for the Canadian smartphone manufacturer. The Taiwanese company is set to join Apple’s supply chain to manufacture the iPhone 5c, while Compal Communications Inc. will assemble the iPad mini from 2014, the sources revealed.

Apple’s main assembly partner, Foxconn will focus on the iPhone 5s, although the labour issues reported at the company are “creating headache for Apple.”

As it turns out, Apple’s notification sent to Pegatron and Foxconn earlier last month was with a purpose: the company is preparing to diversify its assembly partners to meet consumer demand. Another report claiming that Apple has increased the iPhone 5s production just corroborates that fact.

“Apple has raised this quarter’s iPhone 5S orders from Hon Hai as demand has been stronger than expected. But it takes time to boost production capacity and Apple can’t find other assemblers to increase production to meet demand immediately,” said the Hon Hai executive.

The analysts interviewed by the WSJ say Apple’s product portfolio is getting more complicated, and it does makes sense to add more assembly partners, with the latest two being Wistron and Compal.