DELAYED LAUNCH: The release of a ‘certain smartphone product’ had a substantial effect on export figures, a government official said, without directly naming iPhones

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 22, 2020
By: Angelica Oung / Staff reporter

Taiwan’s export orders totaled a record US$57.78 billion last month, up 12 percent month-on-month and 29.7 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

The better-than-expected results were boosted by “a certain recently released smartphone product by an international company,” Department of Statistics Director Huang Yu-ling (黃于玲) told a news conference in Taipei.

Apple Inc, which used to release its new iPhone models in September, delayed this year’s launch to Oct. 23 due to production disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We can’t give exact figures, but it’s quite clear that the smartphone launch in question has had a very substantial effect,” Huang said. “It partially explains why 59.2 percent of the goods supplied by Taiwanese exporters were manufactured abroad,” up 3.3 percentage points year-on-year.    [FULL  STORY]