It's being reported today that Apple's main iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. via Foxconn reported higher-than-expected quarterly revenue thanks to robust demand for Apple Inc.’s new 5G devices.

The Taiwanese company’s sales in December totaled NT$713.8 billion ($25.5 billion). Revenue in the quarter reached a record NT$2 trillion, according to Bloomberg News’s calculations based on previously released monthly sales figures, beating the average estimate of NT$1.8 trillion.

The strong showing from Apple’s most important production partner suggest demand for the U.S. giant’s latest devices may have surpassed initial expectations. The world’s most valuable company outperformed the biggest tech corporations in 2020 on the strength of its 5G iPhones, a crucial indicator of whether consumers will adopt the much faster but pricier technology in 2021.

Hon Hai's shares gained more than 13% in the first two trading sessions of the year, propelled further by news it had sealed a manufacturing deal with embattled Chinese electric-vehicle startup Byton Ltd. For more on this, read the full Bloomberg report.

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Foxconn's (Hon Hai) entry into manufacturing a modern electric vehicle market with next-gen dashboards fuels the speculation that Apple could enter this market for future fully and semi-autonomous vehicles based on Project Titan patents.