Other former phone giants such as Nokia and BlackBerry abandoned their manufacturing business, while companies such as HTC Corp. and Lenovo Group limp on.

Hon Hai shares have plunged 34 per cent since last June's high amid concern that demand for the iPhone X is slowing at a time when Chinese competitors such as Huawei and Xiaomi are rolling out more premium phones.

Hon Hai gets about half its revenue from Apple, which is down 10 per cent from its March peak.

Still, the pain isn't being shared equally by the US company. Analysts are still counting on the first three months this year to have been Apple's best second quarter ever with an average estimate for $US61 billion ($76.7 billion) in revenue.

Bloomberg