On April 13, Taiwan’s Economic Daily reported that Apple asked Largan Precision to increase variable aperture lens orders for the iPhone 18 Pro, but the supplier refused.

Largan’s reason: no blind capacity expansion. Instead, it prioritizes R&D resources for CPO (co-packaged optics) – a technology that integrates optical transceivers directly inside SoC packages, slashing signal path, latency, and power.

Variable aperture is a premium imaging feature. It automatically adjusts light intake for cleaner night shots and natural bokeh. Apple planned to secure enough capacity for the iPhone 18 Pro series, but Largan’s rejection creates a shift.

Largan’s leverage comes from high technical barriers – extreme precision and yield rates for high-end lenses are hard to replace quickly. For Largan, CPO targets the high-margin data center and AI computing market, a priority over mobile lens orders.

Apple had a backup. Sunny Optical is now the primary supplier of variable aperture lenses for iPhone 18 Pro, with Largan moving to a secondary role. This move diversifies Apple’s supply chain risk.

Apple’s request for extra orders also signals strong confidence in iPhone 18 Pro sales. Variable aperture is a key differentiator for Pro models.

Separately, Apple is testing under-display Face ID to shrink the Dynamic Island. The design is still in A/B testing, with no final decision yet.

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