China factory closures significantly delay Apple iPhone 14 production

Apple has announced that China’s COVID quarantine measures have closed a major iPhone assembly facility, severely limiting production capacity for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Foxconn’s assembly facility in Zhenzhou, China, has shut down due to the lockdown, which is expected to last until November 9th. The affected factory employs approximately 200,000 people and produces the majority of iPhones. CNN reported that the factory accounts for about 85% of his iPhone assembly capacity.

In a press release, the tech giant warned that customers would face shipping delays and longer wait times to receive new products.

“We are working closely with our suppliers to return to normal production levels while ensuring the health and safety of all workers,” the release read.

This release does not say whether other Apple devices, such as MacBooks or desktop Mac computers, are affected.

According to a report from bloomberg, Apple lowered its iPhone 14 production target from 90 million to 87 million or less. This is believed to be due to weak demand in addition to plant closures.

Apple’s stock fell 10% on Monday following the news, but recovered to near normal levels by the end of the trading day.

The outage occurred just before the winter holiday season, when sales are expected to spike.

A Foxconn spokesperson told China’s state-run Henan Daily that the company is trying to compensate by increasing production at other sites.

When other tech giants warned of economic headwinds, Apple was an outlier in reporting smooth sailing. In its fourth-quarter results, released on Oct. 28, the company posted a healthy revenue increase of US$89.1 billion for the quarter, an 8% increase over the same period in 2021.