Foxconn Abruptly Halts Hiring at iPhone Factory Amid New Lockdown and iPhone 14 Delay Concerns
Roughly 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.
Just yesterday, Foxconn was signaling it wanted to hire more workers to meet increased consumer demand, on top of additional demand caused by supply chain constraints for the upcoming iPhone 14 series. Now, South China Morning Post reports that Foxconn has suspended hiring of new workers, saying it could "complicate" production for the iPhone 14 lineup slated to launch in the 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.
So far, Apple is not expected to drastically delay the launch of the iPhone 14 series, as it did for the iPhone 12. Unlike the normal timetable, Apple was forced to delay the launch of the iPhone 12 till October 2020, rather than September. DigiTimes has speculated that Apple's supply chain woes could result in a similar scenario this year.
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.
Popular Stories
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website.
Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50.
We have outlined some examples below:
Device
New Value
Old Value
iPhone 15 Pro Max
Up to $630
U ...
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app.
Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features.
Notification Summary Changes
Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines.
For...
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action.
Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the "ultra-thin" device.
Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" is shaping up to be a mixed bag. Due to its thinness, the device is expected to have some limited specifications compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, only a single speaker, no SIM...
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
2025 promises to be quite a big year for Apple, with the company rumored to be planning more than 20 product announcements this year.
Apple's rumored smart home hub will be its second all-new product to launch in as many years, following the Apple Vision Pro headset last year. And of course, we will get several new iPhone and Apple Watch models, like every year. Beyond that, Apple could...
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr.
The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models:
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhon...
