The delay in the production of Apple's flagship handset iPhone X this year had a negative impact on the third-quarter earnings of Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn Technology.

Production problems with the iPhone X sensor array initially slowed manufacturing of the flagship smartphone, partly because the components must be assembled to a very high degree of accuracy.
The structured light approach of the Face ID system requires lasers to be positioned very precisely, making it slow to assemble in high volume.

On Tuesday, Foxconn reported operating profit of 18.71 billion New Taiwan dollars ($620 million), down 55.5% year-over-year, on revenue of NT$1.07 trillion, up 0.33%, in the three-month period ended September.

Net profit in the third quarter was NT$21.02 billion, down 39.2% from a year ago.

Foxconn and its subsidiaries control about a 45% stake in Sharp, which booked a net profit of 20.2 billion yen ($177 million) in the July-September quarter.

However, it is estimated that Foxconn is likely to enjoy two consecutive strong quarters from October to March, as Apple is forecasting a record holiday quarter on healthy demand for iPhone X.

Apple accounts for more than 50% of Foxconn's total revenue. Foxconn is also assembling iPhone 8 Plus this year.

Issues with facial identification parts created a bottleneck in the mass production of iPhone X before the handset went on sale on Nov.3.

Foxconn's Hong Kong-listed subsidiary FIH Mobile, in charge of making mobile devices for customers including Huawei, Xiaomi and Razer, also issued a profit warning in early November that losses in the second half of this year will be "significantly higher" than the $200 million loss it made in the first six months of 2017.