Foxconn Technology Group is having trouble keeping up with the massive demand for Apple's new iPhone 5, according to published reports.
"It's not easy to make the iPhones. We are falling short of meeting the huge demand," Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou told reporters Wednesday after a business forum in Taipei, according to a Reuters story.
"We can't really fulfill Apple's requests. Our shipments are insufficient … given the huge market demand," Gou added, according to another report from AFP.
[Related: iPhone 5 Frenzy: 10 Scenes From The Boston Launch]
Apple launched the iPhone 5 on Sept. 12. The Cupertino, Calif., company hasn't disclosed how many iPhone 5 units have been sold, but reports put that number at 5 million sold during the launch weekend. Analyst Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee, in a research note issued Thursday, predicted that Apple would sell 46.5 million iPhones in the December quarter.
Concerns that Apple may not be able to meet iPhone 5 demand have caused the value of Apple's shares to fall in recent weeks. On Oct. 25 Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said demand for the iPhone 5 continued to outpace supply, but that Apple was working to catch up.
Gou said the design of the iPhone 5 makes production difficult, but he did not elaborate, according to the AFP story. The Reuters story said he did not comment on analyst reports that Foxconn's other manufacturing unit, Foxconn International Holdings, had taken on some of the iPhone 5 manufacturing.
Foxconn manufactures Apple's wildly successful iPhone and iPad devices, as well as products for other vendors including Sony and Nokia.
But the company occasionally generates headlines companies would prefer to avoid, such as last month's report of a major strike that could hinder iPhone production, an employee riot, and the company's recent admission that it hired underage interns.
PUBLISHED NOV. 8, 2012
