Due to a decline in iPhone demand, the February sales of Taiwan's Foxconn, Apple's largest partner, decreased by nearly 12% compared to the previous year.
Foxconn announced on the 5th (local time) that its sales last month amounted to $13.18 billion (17.15 trillion KRW), representing an 11.6% decrease compared to the same period last year. Compared to the previous month, sales dropped by 40%.
Foxconn stated, "February sales of smart home appliances, including smartphones, declined due to the influx of conservative customers."
Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant is known to produce 80% of Apple's flagship iPhone 14 series, especially more than 85% of the high-end iPhone 14 Pro. This is why Foxconn's sales are estimated to have significantly decreased due to the drop in iPhone demand.
Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant in China was shut down from late October to November last year due to a mass worker exodus caused by the Chinese government's COVID-19 lockdown. As a result, Apple's Q4 sales last year recorded $117.2 billion (approximately 152.48 trillion KRW), a 5% decrease compared to the same period the previous year, marking the first decline since Q1 2019. Since the plant resumed operations in December last year, January sales increased by 48.2% year-over-year. However, with the decrease in February sales, cumulative sales for January and February this year only rose by 17.9%.
Having faced difficulties due to the shutdown of its Chinese plant, Foxconn is investing $700 million (approximately 910 billion KRW) to build a new factory in India. This is seen as an acceleration of the shift away from China amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and China.
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