Recently, Apple iPhone assembly partner, Foxconn has put its biggest facility in Zhengzhou, China under closed-loop production protocols after “a small number of employees” tested positive.
Now, Reuters reports that iPhone production could fall by 30% next month because the “Zhengzhou factory assembles the majority of its global output.”
The news of the supply shortfall comes ahead of the Holiday season which is “prime time” for companies like Apple when consumers order gifts for family and friends.
China’s strict COVID-19 policy causes trouble at iPhone’s biggest assembling unit in Zhengzhou
The Zhengzhou plant in central China is Foxconn’s biggest iPhone assembling unit in the country with 200,000 employees. After restrictions were imposed to contain the COVID-19 breakout at the plant, several workers were allegedly spotted fleeing the facility and which led to a city-wide lockdown.
An insider told the publisher that the event could impact iPhones’ production in November. But, the manufacturer also reported that Foxconn has ramped up iPhone production at its facility in Shenzhen city while production at the Zhengzhou plant continued.
Production of Apple Inc’s iPhones could slump by as much as 30% at one of the world’s biggest factories next month due to tightening COVID-19 curbs in China, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
Manufacturer Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd is working to boost production at another factory in Shenzhen city to make up for the shortfall, said the person, declining to be identified as the information was private.
Apple is already in midst of expanding its supply chain outside China because of its strict zero COVID-19 policy and other reasons. Foxconn and other Apple assembling partners began iPhone 14 in India within a few months of its launch in China.
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