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TechCrunch reports that Apple's Taiwanese OEM partner for the iPhone, Foxconn (Hon Hai), is producing 800,000 of the hot-selling handsets per week, a build rate of 40-million per year. This level of production is “above current full capacity” and there may be some concerns with quality control, says Tech Crunch. Assuming TechCrunch's 800,000 handset per week number is correct and that this is the first week that level production will be reached, Apple / Foxconn will make (sell?) 17.6-million handsets by the end of the year. However, this rate of production can be ramped up significantly over time, the publication continued without naming a source. In April, Taiwan's Commercial Times estimated that Foxconn would produce 25-million 3G iPhones over the life cycle of the handset. Assuming that means a year (52 weeks), that translates into a build rate of about 481,000 handsets per week. For what it's worth, back in March, Bank of America analyst Scott Craig said 11-million 3G iPhones would be produced from May to September of this year, a total of 22 weeks for a build rate of 500,000 handsets per week. However, the grand daddy 3G iPhone sales estimate to date has been from Gene Munster, who believes that Apple will sell 45-million handsets, a figure the Piper Jaffray analyst has reconfirmed several times, next year in the US alone. That's a weekly build rate of over 940,000. Apple has said it will begin selling the 3G iPhone in 22 more countries from August 22nd (Macworld), though it hasn't which countries, and over 70 countries by year's end. Editor's note: If Apple is indeed planning to launch an iPhone nano and can execute at least as well as it has for the 3G iPhone, the true scope of Steve Jobs' ambition really starts to take shape. Moreover, Gene Munster's seemingly absurd sales projection doesn't seem all that absurd anymore... What's your take?
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