Apple has apparently placed over $200 million in bookings with supplier Lumentum for the rest of the 2017 calendar year. The components are apparently related to vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL) and are believed to be aimed at Apple’s advanced 3D sensing camera on the iPhone 8. The bookings represent a noticeable increase in revenue for the supplier, in comparison to a reported $5 million in 3D sensing revenue during its last fiscal quarter.
As a result, LoupVentures analyst Gene Munster has stated that he believes the September launch of the iPhone 8 will see a notable increase in the number of iPhones equipped with 3D sensors supporting augmented reality features. Lumentum is believed to be one of around three companies supplying Apple with VCSEL components, as well as Finisar.
Munster offered the following comments:
It’s predicted that most of Lumentum’s $200 million VCSEL order, “if not the entire order,” will be for Apple, leading to further confirmation that AR will be a “focus feature” of the iPhone 8. This “massive” uptick in production has seen Lumentum increase its VCSEL production capacity by 25 to 30 percent more than it had projected as recently as the last quarter.
In the June-qtr, Lumentum recorded $5M in 3D sensing revenue, but more impressively they received over $200M in bookings in the quarter, which they believe will all be shipped by CY17. We believe the majority, if not they entire order, is all being shipped to Apple. We believe these comments further confirms 3D sensing (and in-turn AR applications) will be a focus feature in the next iPhone.
The “iPhone 7s” and “iPhone 7s Plus” are not expected to contain 3D sensing features supported by the advanced VCSEL components in question. As such, the iPhone 8 is expected to offer these components and features.
Recent production ramp-up stories have pegged all three new iPhones as entering volume production ahead of their launch in September. Currently, it’s expected that the LCD iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus will be fairly easy for customers to obtain, but the OLED iPhone 8 “could fall short of demand” and be difficult to purchase for the first few months of its availability.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via MacRumors and LoupVentures