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Making Those iPhones: Foxconn Says It Has the Workers It Needs

March 24, 2020 Topic: Security Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: FoxconnAppleTechnologyIPhone

Making Those iPhones: Foxconn Says It Has the Workers It Needs

According to one report, the major assembler for the iPhone has secured the workers it needs at all of its facilities in China. But what that means for the arrival of the iPhone and other key products this year remains unclear.

 
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With the coronavirus having originated in China, and mostly shut down that country's supply chain in the early part of this year, fears have arisen that this year's major electronics products, including Apple's next iPhones, might not arrive on the market in time.

Now, according to one report, the major assembler for the iPhone has secured the workers it needs at all of its facilities in China. But what that means for the arrival of the iPhone and other key products this year remains unclear.

 
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Nikkei Asian Review reported Tuesday that Foxconn, the Taiwan-based manufacturing company that serves as Apple's top assembler for iPhones, says it has enough workers at its plants in China to meet seasonal demand. The company's chairman had said weeks ago that the plants were only operating at 50 percent capacity.

Foxconn, per the report, also says that it has provided  55,000 workers with coronavirus tests, and 40,000 of them with chest X-rays.

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It's unclear what this means for the production of this year's iPhones. The devices typically hit peak production in the summer before arriving on the market in the fall. This year's iPhone lineup is expected to feature the first 5G-capable iPhone.

Back on March 6 Bloomberg News, citing a Bank of America analyst note from Wamsi Mohan, reported that this year's iPhone could see a month-long delay, due to coronavirus-related supply chain disruptions, as well as weaker demand driven by that same pandemic.

Whether such a delay happens, Mohan wrote, would "depend on how production ramps back up in April and May.” Foxconn had also said in early March that it expected normal production to resume by the end of March.

While different companies supply the parts for the iPhone, Foxconn is the main company Apple contracts to carry out the assembly of those parts.

Foxconn also, somewhat infamously, reached a deal several years ago to build a plant in southeastern Wisconsin to produce LCD and flat panels. The deal, however, ended up not nearly as ambitious as originally advertised, with only a fraction of the promised jobs created. As of last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, construction and work on the facility was ongoing, with 400 workers on the job, despise coronavirus restrictions.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. 

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