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Taiwanese sources illustrate likely depth of impact on supply-chain of iPhone 8 sales

With the iPhone 8 (or Edition) expected to generate record sales for Apple, it’s obvious that iPhone assemblers like Foxconn will benefit, alongside major suppliers like Samsung Display, which is making the OLED panels.

But Taiwanese sources provide an illustration of just how far that benefit reaches into the upstream supply chain …

The Digitimes piece reports that suppliers of the most low-level components – like the materials needed to create printed circuit boards – are expecting business growth on the back of demand for this year’s iPhones.

The sources said that such materials as copper clad laminates and photoresist dry films needed to produce substrate-like PCBs (SLPs) for iPhones, and photoresist required for advanced semiconductor process, as well as optical engineering plastics will see higher sales records than other sectors in the supply chain of new iPhones.

It cites Wah Lee Industrial and Topco Technologies as examples of two companies likely to benefit.

The NAND flash memory used for iPhone storage may be made by household names like Samsung and Toshiba, but this isn’t the only use for flash storage. The OLED screen in the flagship model will also require NOR flash chips, with Winbond and Macronix among the companies expected to supply these.

Similarly with the camera lenses. Along with companies like Largan Precision, which manufactures the lenses, demand will be boosted for the optical-quality plastics needed to create the lenses.

Following the supply-chain trail from a completed iPhone down to the raw material level for each component would surely make one of the most complex tree diagrams ever seen …


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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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