Foxconn has increased the production of iPhone 5s devices at the expense of iPhone 5c handsets at Apple’s request, reports the Wall Street Journal. In fact, iPhone 5s shipping times have dropped to 3-5 business days just ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Apple’s major assembly partner has over a million workers in China, 300,000 of whom at its Zhengzou site focus on the iPhone 5s and key components such as metal casings, a Foxconn executive speaking with the WSJ said.
“We have been churning out about 500,000 iPhone 5Ss everyday, the highest daily output ever,” said the executive who declined to be named.
As it turns out, the production of the iPhone 5s isn’t as “simple” as the iPhone 5c or iPhone 5: there are about 600 workers on each iPhone 5s production line handling assembly work, the executive emphasized, while for the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 they have only 500 workers on each production line.
“For the iPhone 5C or the iPhone 5, we only have 500 workers per production line as the assembly procedure is less complicated,” said the Hon Hai executive. “Although the market had concerns over demand for the new iPhone before its launch, our Zhengzhou site’s production capacity for iPhones has continued to grow over the past two years.”
The report corroborates earlier rumours claiming that Foxconn is focusing on manufacturing the iPhone 5s at the expense of the iPhone 5c. After the launch of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, the latter has apparently failed to gain the desired traction, at least from the perspective of some analysts. Others, however, point to Apple’s long-term marketing strategy, which had its first success in India, where the iPhone 5c outsold the Samsung Galaxy S4.
