Largest iPhone factory almost back at normal capacity as 14 Pro production ramps up

After a chaotic month and a half, Foxconn’s largest iPhone factory in the Zhengzhou province is back at 90% capacity, with about 200,000 workers producing the newest iPhone 14 line. Quoting Foxconn executive Vic Wang, Henan Daily (via Bloomberg) reports that as of Dec. 30, “the plant was shipping at 90% of the peak capacity forecast at the start of last year.”

Previous reports already indicated that Foxconn would need at least until late December to early January to be back at total production capacity. Last week BGR reported that the iPhone 14 Pro production had ramped up as customers only needed around 1-2 weeks to get any iPhone 14 model on Apple’s online store.

Background

Early in November, Apple stated it would be harder to get an iPhone 14 Pro model this Christmas. Shortly after, with COVID-19 cases rising in China, the largest iPhone factory tried to lure workers to the factory with bonuses, which it then didn’t pay.

This lack of payment generated a violent protest in the Zhengzhou province, and thousands of workers, who would help maintain the iPhone 14 production, decided to leave the factory.

At the beginning of December, Reuters reported that Foxconn’s largest iPhone factory would resume full iPhone 14 production around late December to early January.

“At present, the overall epidemic situation has been brought under control with November being the most affected period,” the company said in a statement, adding it has started to recruit new employees and was gradually “restoring production capacity to normal”.

Now, with the latest reports, we know production is returning to normal. Although Apple will ship at least 10 million fewer iPhone 14 models than expected, the Cupertino firm is now starting 2023 on the right foot.

BGR will keep reporting on Apple’s supply chain and how is the production of its latest gadgets.