Uh-Oh: Apple's Largest iPhone Assembly Plant Has a Covid-19 Flare Up - Gizmodo

Officials astatine Apple’s largest assembly works for iPhones successful China are scrambling to incorporate a small, but noticeable covid-19 outbreak spreading amongst its workers.

A spokesperson from Foxconn, 1 of Apple’s largest iPhone manufacturers, confirmed it was experiencing a “small number” of affirmative cases successful its Zhengzhou installation Tuesday successful statements sent to CNBC and Bloomberg. The spokesperson described existent operations astatine the installation as, “relatively stable,” and “controllable,” and said they did not expect the disruptions to interaction accumulation outlooks for the quarter.

“For the tiny fig of employees affected by the pandemic, Foxconn, successful compliance with section epidemic prevention policies, is providing the indispensable guarantees for livelihoods, including worldly supplies, intelligence comfortableness and responsive feedback,” the spokesperson told CNBC.

The caller cases travel amid a covid-19 uptick successful the metropolis much broadly, which reported 23 caller cases connected Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.

Foxconn and Apple did not instantly respond to Gizmodo’s requests for comment.

While the fistful of affirmative cases reported astatine the Zhengzhou Foxconn installation apt wouldn’t adjacent emergence to the value of a institution wide email successful galore U.S. firms, Chinese officials person truthful acold taken a overmuch stricter attack towards lawsuit containment successful pursuit of a existent “zero-covid” strategy.

Last week, astir a period aft U.S. President Joe Biden prematurely declared, “the pandemic is over,” Zhengzhou officials locked down astir 1 cardinal residents surviving successful the city’s astir populous territory aft reporting little than a twelve caller cases successful a azygous day. Those residents, Bloomberg notes, were ordered to enactment astatine location and non-essential businesses were told to temporarily unopen down.

Even little mill shutdowns tin person large consequences for tech firms similar Apple who are heavy reliant connected Chinese manufacturing and planetary proviso chains. Last year, Apple was reportedly forced to chopped backmost iPhone 13 accumulation owed to spot shortages that were exacerbated by pandemic disruptions. And though Apple’s begun to manufacture much of its iPhones successful other countries similar India, China inactive accounts for the lionshare of its astir invaluable merchandise which makes the institution peculiarly susceptible to immoderate large lockdowns oregon accumulation halts imposed by the Chinese government.