The Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
Foxconn is building a factory in Taiwan that will exclusively produce screens for Apple products, following an ‘urgent request’ from the consumer tech giant.
The factory, constructed by Foxconn-owned Innolux, will take two years to complete. However, mass production of panels will start by the end of 2015, “after an urgent request for exclusive capacity,” according to Bloomberg.
“Little else about the arrangement, including display types or even what devices Foxconn might be building screens for, is known,” says AppleInsider.
“But in recent years, reports have claimed that Innolux Corp has been gradually squeezing out long-time LCD supplier Samsung from Apple’s supply chain.”
Some 2,300 people will be employed at the plant as Foxconn strengthens its relationship with Apple. Foxconn already has dedicated factories assembling iPhone smartphones and iPad tablet computers in China.
A shortage of metal casings for the iPhone 5 resulted in a shortage of the devices within a month of it going on sale in September 2012, Bloomberg reported at the time.
This latest development comes in the wake of the bankruptcy of GTAT, which had been talking to Apple about building sapphire displays for the iPhone 6 – the deal has since, clearly, fallen through.
