Key Apple partner boosts workforce by 40% to prep for low-cost iPhone production

Pegatron may or may not be seeing falling demand for the iPad mini but it’s clear that the Apple device manufacturer won’t be slacking off for the next several months. Reuters reports that Pegatron is planning to boost its workforce in China by 40% in the second half of 2013, right when Apple is expected to start manufacturing its long-rumored low-cost iPhone. While there’s no definitive information linking Pegatron to the low-cost iPhone, Reuters says that the company expects its “revenue from communication products” to “contribute up to 40% to total in the six months from June, compared to 24% in the three months in the beginning of the year.” Or put another way, Pegatron expects to get a major revenue boost from producing “communications products” that will likely include some variant of Apple’s iPhone.