A Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), announced to expect shipments “below expectations” of the new iPhone, due to the confinement imposed around the largest factory of iPhones in the world, in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, after an outbreak of covid-19.
The US group explained on Sunday that the Foxconn factory located in the Economic Zone of Zhengzhou Airport, capital of Henan province, in central China, is paralyzed because of the restrictions imposed on Wednesday.
Chinese authorities sealed off access to the zone, banning anyone from entering or exiting, for a period of one week, except to deliver food and health equipment, after Foxconn employees fled the premises.
“Customers will have to wait longer to receive their new products,” concluded Apple. “As we have done since the start of the pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of workers in our supply chain,” added the company.
The Taiwanese group Foxconn, Apple's main supplier, has since October faced an increase in cases of covid-19 in the industrial complex of Zhengzhou, about 600 kilometers from Beijing, which employs almost 300 people.
Also on Sunday, Foxconn announced a “downwards” revision of production forecasts for the fourth quarter of this year, because of anti-covid-19 measures in China.
“Usually, almost all iPhones are produced in Zhengzhou,” said Ivan Lam, an analyst at specialized company Counterpoint, to Agence France-Presse.
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More than 90% of Apple products are manufactured in China, which is also one of the most important markets for the company.
From July to September, the US group saw sales of the iPhone, its main product, increase by 9,7% year-on-year, to US$42,6 billion (€42,9 billion).
Foxconn is the largest private sector employer in China, with more than one million people working in around 30 factories and research facilities across the country.
The Taiwanese company said on October 30 that it was working in "closed circuit", an official term meaning that employees were prevented from leaving their workplaces.
Videos released on Chinese social media a few days later showed hundreds of Foxconn employees jumping over fences and walking along the side of a road, laden with suitcases and other belongings.
The Chinese Communist Party maintains a strategy of 'zero cases' of covid-19, which implies the confinement of entire neighborhoods and cities and the isolation of all positive cases and their direct contacts.
This keeps China's infection levels low, but also halts economic activity, at a time when the rest of the world has lifted restrictions.
