China has just recently ordered a seven day long lockdown in a region, which is also where Foxconn Technology has its largest iPhone plant. This would likely affect Apple shipments as its largest suppliers biggest plant is down for a week.

According to a BusinessStandard report, the Chinese government has implemented a lockdown around Foxconn’s main iPhone plant in Zhengzhou. The lockdown is currently in effect and will last until the 9th of November 2022. This news was also published on the local government’s official WeChat account. As of right now, the government has barred all vehicles to operate in the region of the lockdown, except those that are carrying essential goods. The lockdown was implemented in Zhengzhou after the area saw a sizeable jump to 359 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. This was up from just 95 from a just a day prior.

Apple

The sudden lockdown is a part of China initiative of Covid Zero approach to controlling each outbreak. Now, Foxconn’s main iPhone plant was unfortunately caught in this zone and has had its operations abruptly halted. The Taiwanese company is the largest supplier in Apple’s supply chain and has had to force some of its 200,000 strong staff into quarantine. Furthermore, some were pushed to flee the site, with some even leaving on foot. Following this lockdown, the company will also face complications to recruit and bring in new staff members.

Foxconn would even be troubled to ship production materials to continue their operations. At the moment, neither Foxconn or Apple has given out any statement regarding this news. Although, the former is working on raising wages and arranging backups from its other Chinese plants to mitigate this sudden operations disruption in its Zhengzhou iPhone assembly line. While Apple has just launched its iPhone 14 lineup, it refrained from bumping orders due to an ongoing economic slump, which has led to a decline in smartphone sales.

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