TAIPEI, Jan 5 Reuters Taiwan39;s Foxconn, the world39;s largest contract electronics maker and Apple39;s biggest iPhone assembler, said on Friday it expected an onyear drop in first quarter revenue coming off a high base, after slower market demand hit the previous quarter.

The first quarter is traditionally quieter than the previous one, the season when Taiwan39;s tech companies race to supply smartphones, tablets and other electronics to major vendors such as Apple for Western markets39; yearend holiday period.

Foxconn said in a statement that this year39;s first quarter is expected to be similarly slow to the same period of the previous three years, but revenue is expected to decrease yearonyear.

The company does not give numerical guidance.

In the first three months of last year, revenue hit a record high for that quarter, due to factories resuming normal operations following the COVID pandemic.

The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, said revenue last month reached T460.1 billion 14.84 billion, which it said was better than expected even though that was down 26.9 yearonyear.

For the fourth quarter, revenue slid 5.4 yearonyear to T1.851 trillion, beating a T1.827 trillion LSEG SmartEstimate, which gives greater weight to forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.

Fourth quarter revenue in its smart consumer electronics products, including smartphones, was flattish yearonyear due to slower market demand, Foxconn said….