iPhone Production in China Normal, Despite COVID-19 Concerns: Foxconn

Foxconn, Apple’s largest supplier and the company’s primary assembly partner for iPhones, said on Friday that its largest iPhone factory is operating at normal capacity, in spite of new COVID-19 restrictions to combat the Chinese city of Zhengzhou’s latest wave of infections (via Reuters).

The Taiwanese company on Wednesday banned all dining in at its Zhengzhou facility. Instead, the campus’s 300,000 workers are now required to take their meals back to their dormitories.

“Zhengzhou (plant) still maintains normal production and has little impact (from the situation),” Foxconn said in a statement.

Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory is the largest producer of iPhones for Apple. The plant is currently ramping up production of Apple’s latest iPhone 14 lineup, and a slowdown here would spell trouble for the company’s supply chain.

Apple’s Chinese production has had a rough go of it this year, with each resurgence of COVID-19 restricting supplier operations. Earlier this year, there were even fears of iPad manufacturing being impacted by power outages in the country.

As a result of production woes in China, Apple is pushing suppliers to diversify manufacturing beyond the country. The company has even started assembling iPhone 14 models in India. However, a recent report indicated it would take Apple at least eight years to move just 10% of its production capacity out of China.

According to a report from earlier this week, Apple is slowing down the production of its iPhone 14 Plus model. Instead, the tech giant has asked suppliers to increase iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max orders.