These are the abrupt starts and stops that accompany an ongoing pandemic.
Only 24 hours after saying it would ramp up hiring and incentives for new employees, Foxconn, Apple’s main iPhone supplier, said today it would abruptly stop hiring new workers for its plant in Zhengzhou, China, after new COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions were imposed on the city of nearly 11 million residents.
On Monday, Foxconn signaled that it wanted to hire additional workers to meet increased customer demand, on top of additional demand caused by supply chain constraints for the upcoming iPhone 14 series handsets. South China Morning Post reported that the company has suspended hiring of new workers, stating it would “complicate” production for the iPhone 14 models slated to launch this fall:
The suspension came on the heels of the Taiwanese company’s plans earlier this week to boost recruitment by offering higher cash bonuses, the agencies said in posts on Tencent Holdings platform WeChat and ByteDance-owned Douyin, the Chinese version of global hit short video app TikTok.
The move to suspend the hiring of new assembly line workers could complicate the iPhone 14 production schedule of Foxconn, which has run its smartphone and components production in Zhengzhou under a “closed-loop” system that confines employees within its campus.
Apple is not expected to drastically delay the launch of the iPhone 14 series, as it did for the iPhone 12. Under pandemic circumstances, Apple was forced to delay the launch of the iPhone 12 by a month until October 2020.
Some parts of Apple’s supply chain are on the mend, however. Quanta, Apple’s supplier for the MacBook Pro, this week resumed production at its plant in China following some disruptions caused by new lockdowns and restrictions. During its earnings call last week, Apple said it expects supply chain constraints to continue into the next quarter. Tim Cook said that Apple has done a “reasonable job” navigating the supply chain roadblocks.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via MacRumors and the South China Morning Post