Analysts and sources detail improving iPhone output in China despite COVID-19 issues; Foxconn's main Zhengzhou iPhone facility is now operating at ~70% capacity
Main Foxconn facility recovers to about 70% of capacity and wait times for iPhone Pro models shorten
Wall Street JournalYang Jie
Context & Ripple Effects
Foxconn’s China operations have repeatedly had to recover from COVID-related constraints: it projected a return to normal plant operations in 2020 and later resumed partial work at a Shenzhen iPhone campus through a closed-loop operating process. The Zhengzhou improvement is therefore significant because it moves the latest disruption from factory shutdown management toward product availability.
A subsequent report that Zhengzhou had reached around 90% of capacity suggests the 70% level was part of an active production ramp rather than a static ceiling.
First-order effects
Foxconn’s higher Zhengzhou output directly eases the supply constraint on Apple’s iPhone Pro production, with shorter customer wait times already reported.
Second-order effects
For iPhone Pro buyers, delivery timing becomes the immediate visible indicator of Foxconn’s recovery, replacing extended waits as the operational constraint at issue.
Third-order effects
The sequence of COVID disruptions and recoveries at Foxconn’s Chinese sites points to manufacturing resilience becoming a recurring requirement for Apple’s concentrated iPhone assembly network, not a one-off production task.
The trend: iPhone supply is increasingly shaped by how quickly major assembly hubs can restore output after localized operational disruptions.
Hey, Apple... Ever think about moving your manufacturing out of the country that has malicious intent toward the Western World and is committing genocide against its own people? #TheThursdayThink https://www.wsj.com/...
The main parts of the Zhengzhou, China, facility that produce iPhones have recovered somewhat and are operating at about 70% capacity after weeks of Covid staff issues https://www.wsj.com/...
Covid-19 issues in China are still hampering manufacturing of Apple's iPhone, but production is beginning to catch up to demand for the more-expensive Pro models, according to analysts and people involved in the supply chain. @yoyominnie https://www.wsj.com/...
OR ... demand has dropped and this is an excuse. Estimated Shipments of iPhone 14 Devices in 2022 Have Been Lowered to 78.1 Million Units Due to Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Foxconn's Base in Zhengzhou, https://www.trendforce.com/...
“The most important and complex component in each iPhone can be manufactured only in Taiwan. But almost all iPhones are assembled just across the strait in China. A Chinese blockade or a war would drive Apple's production volume very close to zero.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ .…
“This isn't the end of globalization for U.S. tech or for American allies. But it sure feels like it for Chinese tech firms.” From @crmiller1. In the medium term, Chinese components and assembly can be replaced. But Taiwan's chips...not so much. https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...
“That chain is starting to rattle and even break, as the global tech industry works to become less dependent on China.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...
“TSMC sits at the epicenter of the world's tech supply chains. It produces 90 percent of the world's most advanced processor chips, all of them in a handful of facilities in Taiwan.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...
it's interesting, the rhetoric is that we are taking steps to deny china access to advanced chips and other “high-high tech” stuff, but it seems like really we are just anticipating their move to take taiwan which we know we can do nothing to stop when it comes. https://twitter.c…