14 DAY TRIAL // The all-in-one iMac computer which Apple sells with great success is mostly being produced by Quanta Computer, but its manufacturing orders may soon take a hit, if rumors about Pegatron getting some iMac orders are to be believed.
Taiwan’s hit-and-miss DigiTimes cites upstream supply chain players as saying that Apple may shift some of its iMac orders from Quanta to Pegatron, an assembler which already has a great deal of experience making Apple portables, like MacBooks and iPads.
Both Quanta Computer and Pegatron denied such claims, adding that they don’t comment on clients.
Market watchers cited in the report say that “Pegatron used to produce MacBooks for Apple and is familiar with related production.
“If Apple is considering separating its orders, Pegatron should be one of the major candidates for the orders,” according to these people.
The Taiwanese trade publication admits that such rumors have surfaced before to no avail, but opines that the rise of new rumors is a clear indication that Asian suppliers are fighting a fierce battle to scoop up orders from Cupertino.
Apple has not reported plans to refresh the iMac anytime too soon, though it is believed that, among the bigger iDevice announcements this fall, a new line of Macintosh computers will also be unveiled.
Apple is yet to equip many of its Macs with the current generation of Intel chipsets dubbed “Haswell.”
Only the upcoming Mac Pro and the newest MacBook Air generation are using the chips, which reportedly expand battery life while delivering greater processing power.
Apple will undoubtedly align all its Macs with these specifications, but it remains to be seen whether all of the company’s computers can be upgraded by year’s end.
The iMac has also seen a major redesign recently, so the exterior of the computer shouldn’t incur any changes along with the Haswell CPU upgrade.