A major iPhone assembler has reported its first annual decline in sales since it became a public entity in 1991.
The Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known outside Taiwan as the Foxconn Technology Group, experienced a decline of 2.81% in sales from the previous year due to the lack of demand from Apple and the clogged smartphone market, according to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review.
The 2016 sales figures recorded by Foxconn were 4.356 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$136.38 billion). However, the company had a rise of 9.76% in its sales for December 2016 due to orders for the forthcoming Chinese New Year and good demand for the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus.
The Nikkei report said that Pegatron, which concentrates on assembling the iPhone 7, posted a fall of 27.43% in its sales for the year which came in at NT$84 billion.
{loadposition sam08}Apple accounts for more than half of Foxconn's business; the former announced last week that it had missed sales targets for 2016.
Apple's annual sales target for 2016 was US$223.6 billion but it achieved sales of US$215.6 billion, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2015, net sales stood at US$233.7 billion. Of Apple's income for the year, 63% came from iPhone sales, with more than 45 million units sold worldwide in the last quarter of 2016.
Nikkei cited figures provided by Vincent Chen, head of regional research at Yuanta Investment Consulting, as showing that iPhone shipments fell from 236 million in 2015 to 207 million in 2016.
He gave a brighter forecast for 2017, saying that the number of units shipped could rise to 221 million, adding that Foxconn's sales could grow by 5% to 10%.
In November, Nikkei reported that Apple was looking at shifting some iPhone production back to the US, in the wake of repeated statements by US President-elect Donald Trump that he would impose big tariffs on goods made in China and make US companies invest more in their domestic operations.