15-inch MacBook Pro Selling Best; Foxconn Expects More MacBook Orders From Apple
Digitimes’ Aaron Lee and Joseph Tsai report that Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has reportedly enjoyed an increase in 15-inch MacBook Pro orders in the second half and is currently supplying 10-15% of Apple’s total MacBook shipments, up from its original single-digit percentage allotment, according to sources from the upstream supply chain. This has not been confirmed by Apple.
Lee and Tsai also note that longtime major Mac laptop supplier Quanta Computer is still enjoying stable orders from Apple and Foxconn’s order increase has not affected Quanta’s order volumes in the second half, their sources tell them.
Another rumor says Pegatron Technology has received an opportunity from Apple to manufacture MacBook products, but Lee and Tsai’s sources think that one is unlikely to be true since they’e not yet heard any instructions from Apple about sending components to Pegatron for pilot production.
Another interesting bit of scuttlebutt is that 13-inch MacBook Pro are said to be less robust than expected, and the 15-inch model is the better marketplace performer.
That could be partly due to Apple’s pricing of the two models. The base 13-inch rMBP’s base configuration with a 128GB SSD sells for $1699. A more reasonably-sized capacity 256GB flash drive will bump that up to $1,999. Add the optional faster processor (still only dual;-core), and you’re up to $2199, which happens to be the price of the base 15-inch rMBP with a 256 GB SSD, a much-faster quad-core CPU, and a discrete graphics processor unit as well, making the 13-incher a relatively poor value, unless its smaller footprint and lower weight are really important to you.
For the full report, visit:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20121114PD220.html?
