iPhone X production hurdles hit Foxconn profit

Taiwan's Foxconn reported a 39 per cent slide in quarterly profits, far worse than expected, as the assembler of Apple products saw margins squeezed by production bottlenecks for the iPhone X.

Although the 10th-anniversary version of the smartphone has seen parts suppliers struggle with specifications for new features such as facial recognition and edge-to-edge display, red-hot demand for the product, which went on sale this month, is expected to lead to a relatively rapid recovery for Foxconn.

Apple has predicted strong holiday sales and said it is happy with how manufacturing of the iPhone X is progressing, although most analysts think it will likely take until early 2018 for the tech giant to meet demand.

The world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, known formally as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, said third-quarter net profit tumbled to 21 billion new Taiwan dollars (€590 million), about 42 per cent below an average estimate from analysts.