The iPhone 13 is still selling well, but the companies that make the iPhone are moving away from the Apple label.
As a "thriving" in the high-end smartphone market, the iPhone has not only made huge profits for Apple in the past 15 years, but also made hundreds of Apple industry chain (fruit chain) companies make a lot of money.
Once in the A-share market, the fruit chain sector was almost a rare blue chip stock, and its increase far exceeded the overall level of the market. But in the past two years, the fruit chain myth has begun to recede rapidly, and in 2021, OFILM was kicked out of the fruit chain, which sounded the alarm bell for other companies - a loss of 1.9 billion -2.6 billion yuan a year, and the market value was almost waist-cut.
Recently, another fruit chain giant, Luxshare Precision, issued an announcement that it will jointly establish a joint venture with Chery New Energy, mainly engaged in the research and development and manufacturing of new energy vehicles, and Luxun Precision will help provide R&D design and mass production platforms in the core parts business of automobiles. This means that Luxshare Precision no longer satisfies the status of Apple's foundry and tries to seek more development.
Coincidentally, Foxconn has launched its first model a few months ago, and deliveries will begin in March this year.
The former fruit chain giants were either kicked out by Apple or tried to find ways to appleize.
Apple profits soared, but the chain didn't eat much meat
In fiscal 2021, Apple's revenue and net profit both hit record highs, reaching $365.8 billion and $94.6 billion, respectively, up 33% and 64% year-on-year. In fiscal 2020, both figures grew in single digits.
It is reasonable to say that the eldest brother eats meat, and the younger brother should be able to drink some soup, and the transformation of the fruit chain giants at this moment seems to be somewhat out of place.
In fact, Apple's performance has soared, but there is really not much meat distributed to the fruit chain. One of the reasons is that in addition to regular hardware sales, Apple's main source of profit is actually software services, and this part of the operating income will naturally not be transmitted to foundries such as Luxshare Precision and Foxconn.
Taking Luxshare Precision as an example, consumer electronics accounts for nearly 90% of its business composition, including AirPods manufacturing, Apple Watch, MagSafe assembly business, iPhone 12 motor and other parts manufacturing. Luxun Precision's third quarter 2021 financial report shows that the company's revenue increased by 36%, but the net profit attributable to the mother after deducting non-profit fell by 21%.
A similar situation occurred in 2020: Luxshare Precision Consumer Electronics revenue increased by 57%, but gross profit fell by 2%.
Obviously, although Luxshare Precision also sat on Apple's express train, it only ended up in the pocket, but there were not many.
Foxconn is the same way, its consolidated sales in 2021 is about 214.93 billion US dollars, an increase of 10.86% year-on-year, not only the increase is much lower than Apple, or even less than Luxshare Precision.
Apple's soaring profits have made the fruit chain more and more lonely, and they have made hard-earned money.
In addition to Apple, the mobile phone market has shown a downward trend since 2017, the market growth has basically peaked, and Apple's high-end positioning also determines that the growth will not come so violently. Therefore, although retaining the identity of the fruit chain can still obtain considerable profits, it is difficult for apples or the industry to bring more future to fruit chain enterprises.
Run away for half a life, return is still a fruit chain?
Relying too much on a single customer is almost the common situation faced by the fruit chain giants today, but Apple is a well-known supply chain management master, not only will choose 2-3 companies in the same category, but also kick out certain companies from time to time, such as OFILM.
For the fruit chain, the risks are obvious. Luxun Precision has said in the financial report many times, "At present, the company's customer concentration is relatively high, and in the short term, it is mainly concentrated in the field of consumer electronics. If serious business problems occur with important customers, the company will also face certain operational risks. "
Now, the popularity of new energy vehicles has allowed The fruit chain to see the direction of breakthrough and begin to become a common choice for all companies.
In addition to Luxshare Precision and Foxconn, mobile phone panel manufacturer Lens Technology also began to lay out new energy vehicles a few years ago to assemble the whole piece, dashboard, charging pile, etc., and of-film, which was knocked out of the fruit chain, also entered the automotive field in millimeter wave radar, 4D imaging radar, ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) and other technologies.
On October 18, 2021, Foxconn officially released three electric vehicles
On the other hand, the news of Apple's car manufacturing is also well known, and according to the current information, Apple and most other new energy vehicle companies that choose to build their own factories and produce their own, Apple is more inclined to the OEM model - Apple provides product design, production and manufacturing are handed over to the foundry, just like the current iPhone.
Therefore, Foxconn's previous announcement of car manufacturing has also been widely interpreted by the industry as an advance preparation for trying to break into Apple's automotive supply chain.
Nowadays, fruit chain companies have laid out the automotive industry, and it is difficult to say that there is no impetus for Apple's car manufacturing. At present, Apple's car project is still unclear, only sporadic market news that it is discussing cooperation with South Korean car companies, and whether China's fruit chain can successfully break into Apple cars in the future is still unknown.
Apple's big hand still controls the life and death of the fruit chain
Although it seems that the fruit chain is going to "apple", the attractiveness of apples is still very high for manufacturers outside the fruit chain. After all, it is still an efficient money-making machine. It is the profits accumulated for Apple OEM that fruit chains such as Luxun and Foxconn have more capital to layout other areas.
The fruit chain is like half a siege, the manufacturers in the city have made money, and they are worried that there will be no tomorrow, so they desperately expand the foundation; people outside the city see that the people in the city make money, and they want to squeeze in when they break their heads, and when they sit firmly, they become the former.
Last year, Luxshare Precision grabbed some orders for the assembly of the iPhone 13 from Foxconn and invested 11 billion yuan in Suzhou to build a new large factory.
BOE, which has failed to break into the fruit chain in the past, has also begun to provide display screens for Apple in the past two years, and may even supply Apple with the highest-end Mini-LED screens in the future. Of course, for JD.com, even without Apple, it is still the world's largest panel factory, and supplying Apple is more like the icing on the cake for performance growth.
In general, under the reality of the peak of the mobile phone industry, Apple can not bring new growth to the fruit chain, manufacturers can only hope for other businesses, but they still seem to be inextricably linked to Apple. This determines that the de-"appleization" of the fruit chain has almost become a pseudo-proposition, and in the foreseeable future, the apple's big hand will still control the fruit chain.
Produced by ZAKER Technology
Text / Liu Fan