Japan's Murata faces price pressure, smartphone demand steady

Chiba, Japan (Reuters) - Anti-Japanese sentiment in China, falling prices and growing competition from a South Korean rival are just a few of the challenges faced by Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd, which supplies Apple Inc with components for its iPhone 5. But even with those challenges, Murata's president, Tsuneo Murata, said on Tuesday the company is forecasting stronger demand from smartphone makers in the July to September quarter and that its factories were operating at full capacity. "The decline in prices was worse than expected in the first quarter... ...