iPhone 14 May Face Delivery Problems Apple Warns

Apple customers now have to be prepared for longer waiting times if they want to buy one of the new iPhone 14 models. The group warned of delays in the Pro versions, citing problems in the largest iPhone factory in China.

As Apple said in an official statement this morning, lower delivery numbers for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are currently expected. Production is behind schedule, which means customers have to wait longer for their devices, it said.

Production affected in the largest plant in China

According to Apple, there are currently production problems at a plant in the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province. iPhones are currently still being built at the site, but the capacity has been significantly reduced. The plant is Apple’s primary site for manufacturing its much sought-after smartphones and is operated by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry – more commonly known as Foxconn.

The Foxconn plant is currently still affected by a coronavirus outbreak, to which the authorities and the company have responded with a variety of measures. A so-called lockdown also applies in the region around the plant, during which public life largely comes to a standstill. At Foxconn in Zhengzhou, however, the consequences are more dramatic.

The plant recently made the headlines because numerous employees had set off on foot to their hometowns. Because they could no longer stand the severely deteriorated conditions on the factory premises, which they were actually not allowed to leave during the measures to combat Covid-19, various employees climbed over the site’s fence.

In the meantime, Foxconn has reacted and, among other things, started to raise the wages of some employees significantly. In addition, the employees should be able to leave the factory premises if they wish and travel to their home towns with the support of the company. Obviously, these steps have not yet eased the situation, so Apple now has to live with reduced quantities.

The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou is said to normally produce up to 80 and 85 percent of all iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro series models sold worldwide. In order to deliver such huge quantities, Foxconn has up to 300,000 employees at the site. For Apple, the production losses at the world’s largest smartphone factory come at a very unfavorable time given the start of the Christmas business.