Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) will focus on manufacturing entry-level handsets – a move which may affect Compal Communications’s current status as being the top contract maker for Motorola, according to market sources.
CMCS began volume shipments of two handsets, the A732 and C168, to Motorola in the fourth quarter of this year, with the C168 being the first entry-level model that the local handset maker has ever built for the US vendor, the sources said.
If the C168 proves successful, Motorola is likely to place more entry-level handset orders with CMCS, a strategy that will balance the supply position between CMCS and Compal Communications while still keeping the two local makers in competition, the sources noted.
Compal Communications currently is manufacturing the C261 handset, a similar slim-type model as the C168, for Motorola, the sources indicated.
CMCS, now a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Foxconn International Holding (FIH), manufactures the C168 in China, while producing the A732 in Taiwan, the sources noted.
Article translated by Steve Shen and edited by Eric Mah
