COVID-19 Lockdown Hinders iPhone Production as Foxconn Shuts Down Shenzhen Site

Joseph Henry, Tech Times 14 March 2022, 02:03 am

Apple supplier Foxconn announced earlier this week that the Shenzhen site where iPhone production takes place will be temporarily closing down because of the country-wide COVID-19 lockdown.

According to the report, the government imposed another series of policies to curb the continuous cases of coronavirus in China. This includes restricting tech plants to operate in order to avoid the spike in the current number of positive cases.

Foxconn to Halt iPhone Production Amid COVID-19 Spike

COVID-19 Lockdown Hinders iPhone Production as Foxconn Shuts Down Shenzhen Site

(Photo : Arnel Hasanovic from Unsplash)
Foxconn will temporarily stop all iPhone production operations in Shenzhen site amid countrywide lockdown.

Per Bloomberg's report on Monday, March 14, Foxconn will be temporarily suspending its operations to select plants in China, particularly at the hub of Shenzen.

The Taiwanese electronics firm also planned to devise a new way to continue the iPhone production in other available plants.

The iPhone manufacturer arrived with this decision because of the government's recent announcement regarding the escalating COVID-19 cases in the nation.

In a similar report by the publication, there's no mention of the duration of the shutdown. What we know so far is this would continue until March 20, as per government advice.

Adjustments in iPhone Production

Foxconn or Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (known formally) will be adjusting its production to decrease the risk and impact amid the decision.

For the assembly and production of Apple's smartphones, the city of Zhengzhou in central China is where most works take place. This place became popular with its moniker "iPhone City" because it has already become a huge iPhone assembler.

Regarding the lockdown, 17.5 million people from Shenzhen were affected by this health policy. The government saw an increasing trend in the virus cases lately which hit four digits.

As a result, Foxconn will be more strict on its employees by requiring them all to undergo PCR tests before resuming the operations next week.

Aside from Foxconn, other Taiwan-based firms have imposed a similar restriction on their sites based in Shenzhen.

According to the report, Unimicron Technology Corp which is another supplier of Apple did a similar decision.

In addition, Sunflex Technology Co Ltd, a company known for its circuit board was affected, as well. It announced that it would suspend its operations until Sunday, according to Reuters.

Improvement in iPhone 13 Shipments

In late 2021, Tech Times reported that the Cupertino giant witnessed a major improvement on its iPhone 13 shipment. According to the article, there's an increase of 30% in the shipments of Apple iPhones in 2022.

The announcement came after the iPad maker missed its target production last year following several problems including the supply chain issues and the ongoing pandemic wave around the world.

With that, Apple has high hopes that it would sustain the production for this next-gen handheld device. The company is anticipating that 300 million units of iPhone 13 will be shipped for this year.

In other news, the firm said that it would prioritize the sale of the Studio Display this time which will mean replacing the LG Ultrafine 5K screens.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry