In this regard, "Korea Economic News" speculated that LG Innotek this latest investment decision is made after Apple CEO Tim Cook and LG Innotek CEO Park Jong-seok met in November 2017. Market participants believe , This meeting is rare because Cook will not directly participate in the negotiations with component suppliers, so speculated that Apple will invest in LG Innotek to confirm the supply of relevant supply chain products.
Apple has long been a key customer of LG Innotek and many of LG Innotek's rumored investments are believed to be closely linked to Apple's needs. In March 2017, LG Innotek decided to invest 2,644 billion won (about $ 234 million) in investment The Gumi Gumi module factory is the main production line of the iPhone camera module and the iPhone 7 Plus dual lens camera module is also manufactured here. In addition, in April 2017, LG Innotek will invest an additional 262.7 billion won to build a smartphone Other components line, outside the iPhone X facial recognition solutions key components in the production here.
Kui Ming-kai, a well-known analyst at KGI, said earlier that Apple will release three iPhones in 2018, including the upgraded version of the iPhone X, the larger version of the iPhone X Plus and the mid-range version of the iPhone, which are also Will be equipped with Face ID facial recognition capabilities.At the same time, Apple also plans to release at least a Face ID-enabled iPad Pro tablet by 2018. It can be seen, Apple's demand for 3D sensing modules in 2018 is very strong.
Market watchers believe Apple's investment in LG Innotek could help Apple avoid the shortage of 3D sensing modules available late 2017, which also affected sales of the iPhone X when it was first introduced.
However, it is noteworthy that at present, LG Innotek declined to comment on this news, saying only that speculative reports will not be explained.