According to a new report from analysts at UBS Research, Apple’s sapphire crystal manufacturing partner, GT Advanced, has started the production of sapphire in its factory and has reported sent small quantities of the material over to another Apple manufacturing partner in China for the production of sapphire covers.
Sapphire production began back in March 2014 with the manufacturer not working at full capacity. However, GT Advanced, is said to have shipped 2,200 kg of sapphire with the help of about 100 furnaces. However, the company is working on to install 400 to 500 furnaces in the first quarter of 2014 and another 900 – 1,000 in the second quarter.
We estimate GT’s shipment to China was only about $1M worth of sapphire last month. We believe this Apple partner needs to be receiving sapphire totalling about $50M+ per month to confirm that the GT Arizona fab is running at close to full utilization.
Using a number of other saphire suppliers, Apple is currently using sapphire for its latest Touch ID technology in the iPhone 5s as well as for the camera’s protective cover in most of the recent iPhone models. However, Apple has now partnered with GT Advanced in order to produce sapphire at a lower cost but in higher volumes.
Rumors indicate that Apple will use sapphire crystal displays for its upcoming iPhone 6 due to its better durability and scratch resistance.
Source: Macrumors
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