Since April 8, FIH Group (02038. HK) share price has risen several times, and the company's stock price has risen by more than 51% this week, and its market value has increased by nearly HK $2 billion.
As of the close of Hong Kong stocks on April 11, the share price of FIH Group closed at HK$0.74, up 7.25%, with a turnover of HK$44.909 million, and the current total market value of the company is about HK$5.835 billion.
Titanium Media APP noticed that the reason for such a rise in the share price of FIH Group may be related to Apple.
According to market sources, according to supply chain analyst Jeff Pu, Apple plans to release lower-priced AirPods headphones later this year. Jeff Pu said in a research report that the new low-priced AirPods will be manufactured by Foxconn's subsidiary. He noted that Foxconn will start ramping up the assembly of AirPods at its Indian factory in the fourth quarter of this year.
In this regard, Haitong International Securities once said in a report that Foxconn's subsidiary will be deeply involved in the manufacturing process of the new low-cost AirPods. In order to cope with the production demand of the new headphones, Foxconn plans to ramp up the assembly of AirPods at its Indian factory in the fourth quarter of this year. This move not only demonstrates the close partnership between Apple and Foxconn, but also reflects Apple's focus on improving production efficiency and reducing costs.
The launch of the low-cost version of AirPods is undoubtedly Apple's keen insight and positive response to changes in market demand. With the growing consumer demand for wireless headphones, Apple aims to further expand its market share and meet the needs of more consumers by launching lower-priced versions of AirPods.
除了低价版AirPods外，Jeff Pu还预测，苹果将在今年晚些时候对现有的AirPods Max进行更新，推出第四代AirPods和新一代AirPods Max。
It is understood that the fourth-generation AirPods will continue to use the USB-C interface for the design of the charging case, instead of using the Lightning interface. At the same time, the new generation of AirPods Max will also move from the Lightning connector to the USB-C port for charging and wired audio playback, and will add active noise cancellation and a "find" function speaker for finding the location.
Titanium Media APP query found that in Apple's product line, in addition to AirPods and AirPods Max, there are also second-generation AirPods Pro. The headphones were first launched in October 2019 and updated in September 2022, with third-generation AirPods Pro expected to be launched in the next one to two years.
There is no definite word yet on the specific design details of the new AirPods Pro. However, it is reported that the third generation of the product will be equipped with the H3 chip to improve the audio quality, and it is expected to be officially launched in 2025.
As an important partner of Apple for a long time, it is very likely that many of the new AirPods products mentioned above will be produced and processed by FIH Group (that is, a subsidiary of Foxconn), which will naturally boost the company's performance and stock price.
In fact, there has been a saying in the industry that "where there is Apple, there is Foxconn", and Foxconn has quickly risen to become one of the world's largest electronics OEMs by virtue of its close cooperation with technology giants such as Apple. In 2019, Apple invested $1 billion in India to build a new supply chain base, which was led by Foxconn. According to foreign media reports at the time, Apple entered the Indian market through a partner, and this "partner" is Foxconn.
The reason why India was chosen is because India has a huge market blue ocean, not only with preferential policy benefits, but also with a rich labor force, as if it was specially built for Apple and Foxconn. Then, in order to expand the scale of the Indian market, Foxconn has made several additional investments, accumulating billions of dollars.
But as Apple's supply chain shifted, Foxconn's orders fell sharply, and its production base in India faced a serious overcapacity problem. According to data, 27% of the orders for the iPhone 15 series last year were distributed to other OEMs, such as Luxshare and Pegatron, which shows that Foxconn's position in Apple's supply chain is gradually weakening.
Not only that, but Apple, which increased its weight in the Indian market in the early years, seems to be actively returning to the Chinese market.
In March, Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, visited China and made it clear at a public event that there is no substitute for China's supply chain and that Apple cannot do without the Chinese market. At the same time, Cook also said that "Apple Vision Pro headset products will be launched in the Chinese market within this year", which is enough to see the importance of the Chinese market to Apple.
It is reported that Apple currently has a total of 47 stores in 24 cities in Chinese mainland. In 2023, Apple will occupy the top spot in China's smartphone market for the first time, with a record market share of 17.3%, according to IDC Research.
Source: Research institute IDC
However, entering 2024, Apple's sales in China have declined slightly. According to Counterpoint Research, Apple's domestic sales fell 24 percent year-on-year in the first six weeks of this year, with its market share lagging behind vivo, Huawei and Honor during that period, while rival Huawei's sales soared 64 percent.
Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, said China remains a key market for Apple, especially at the high-end of the $800-plus market, where Apple dominates. "With Huawei's recovery and other Chinese phone makers' growth in offline sales, Apple is actively strengthening its offline business, using flagship stores as a key tool to promote high-end smartphones. ”
It is worth mentioning that in early March this year, Apple announced that it would expand its research center in Shanghai to support all of its product lines, and announced plans to open a new applied research lab in Shenzhen later this year. (This article was first published on the Titanium Media APP, author: Chen Weina)