With more mobile operators in emerging markets set to roll out Apple's iPhone 5c, IC orders related to the device are expected to pick up and begin to rise in the first quarter of 2014, according to sources at Taiwan-based component suppliers.

　　The sources cited international chipset suppliers as indicating that sales of the iPhone 5s have been better than those of the iPhone 5c, and that overall sales of the new iPhones have been dragged down due to weaker than expected sales of the iPhone 5c.

　　But since the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c are using the same type of power management (PWM) ICs, it is difficult to evaluate actual shipments of the two new iPhones based on shipments of PWM ICs, indicated the sources.

　　However, the sources pointed out that Foxconn Electronics, which is manufacturing the iPhone 5s for Apple, has been receiving more PWM ICs from suppliers compared to those received by Pegatron, which handles production of the iPhone 5c.

　　While the iPhone 5c appears to have failed to help Apple ramp up its share in the global smartphone market initially, orders for the iPhone 5c have stopped declining as more telecom operators including those in China and other emerging markets will begin selling the iPhone 5c in the first quarter of 2014, revealed the sources.