Apple Supplier Halts iPhone Production Due To COVID-Related Restrictions in China – iPhone 14 Launch To Be Delayed?

Apple’s supplier Foxconn has said that it will abruptly hire new workers for its plant in Zhengzhou, China, on account of new COVID-related lockdowns and restrictions in the region.

Foxconn had earlier said that it would ramp up hiring and incentives for new employees to meet the increased customer demand, and the additional demand caused by supply chain constraints for the upcoming iPhone 14 series. Now, a report in a Chinese media outlet has said that Foxconn has suspended the hiring of new workers, saying it would “complicate” production for the iPhone 14 series that will be launched later this year. “The suspension came on the heels of the Taiwanese company’s plans earlier this week to boost recruitment by offering higher cash bonuses,” the report in South China Morning Post said.

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Currently, it does not seem like Apple will delay the launch of the iPhone 14 series, but a report in DigiTimes said that the Cupertino-based giant may see a 2020-like situation which could force the company to postpone the iPhone 14 launch. In 2020, the iPhone 12 series was launched in October, as against the September launch timeline for every year’s iPhone launch.

While the largest iPhone supplier has halted production in Zhengzhou, the company’s supplier for MacBook, Quanta, this week resumed production at its plant in China after disruptions caused by new lockdowns and restrictions.

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Last week, Apple said the supply chain constraints harmed the company by $8 billion, and said that they will spill into the next quarter as well. CEO Tim Cook, however, said that the company still did a decent job in navigating through the challenges. Apple posted its record quarter in Q1 2022 with over $97.2 in revenue.

The Apple iPhone 14 series is expected to be launched in September this year. As expected, there are a bunch of rumours and leaks around the next Apple iPhone. This year, the Cupertino-based giant is expected to discontinue the “Mini” iPhone model in favour of an iPhone 14 Max, which will be similar to the vanilla iPhone, just bigger in size. Apart from this, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are expected to ditch the notch in favour of a pill-shaped hole punch cutout, and the smartphone is expected to come with several other improvements.

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A report had earlier also hinted that the company may keep a tweaked version of the Apple A15 Bionic chip that powers the iPhone 13 series for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max, and the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will be the only two smartphones to come with a new A16 Bionic chip. Apple is also expected to launch the next 8th generation Apple Watch alongside the iPhone 14 series.

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