TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn posted its first fall in quarterly net profit in more than two years on Wednesday as the main assembler of Apple Inc's (>> Apple Inc.) iPhones felt the effects of a maturing smartphone market and slower global tech demand.

Foxconn's 6.7 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit came as it announced a takeover of ailing Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp (>> Sharp Corporation), which analysts expect will depress earnings for two to three years.

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (>> Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.), booked T$52.9 billion ($1.6 billion) in net income on a 4.7 percent drop in revenue in the October-December period from a year earlier, it said in a statement.

The quarterly result beat average net profit forecast of T$50.46 billion from 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S and was the company's second-highest quarterly level.

Analysts noted prior to the results that the company had managed to improve production efficiency and benefit from higher average selling prices for large-screen iPhones.

For all of last year, net profit reached T$146.9 billion, up over 12 percent to a record annual high.

($1 = 32.2840 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by J.R. Wu; Additional reporting by Gaurav Dogra in BANGALORE; Editing by Alexander Smith)