Oliver Haslam on November 2, 2022, 4:52 pm

World’s Biggest iPhone Factory In Lockdown Over COVID-19 Outbreak

Apple’s iPhone 14 lineup is still pretty difficult to get hold of, but it could be about to get worse following the news that the biggest iPhone factory on the planet is now in the middle of a state-ordered COVID-19 lockdown.

The Zhengzhou China plant was already been dealing with unrest over the COVID-19 situation in China, with some employees recently filmed fleeing the factory as a mini-lockdown was put into place.

Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that the entire area has been put into lockdown following the spread of the virus.

The industrial park where Foxconn Technology Group’s iPhone assembly plant is struggling to maintain production amid a Covid-19 outbreak entered a weeklong lockdown Wednesday, after the region’s governor visited the site and called for local officials to step up oversight of the virus-control campaign.

The lockdown kicked in at noon today and could impact iPhone 14 manufacturing capacity for the next week. That hasn’t yet been confirmed by Foxconn, the factory’s owner, however. The company did say that it was already running closed-loop operations, though. Previous reports suggested that employees had been told to eat in their dorms in an attempt to minimize the amount of mingling they do.

Apple’s new iPhone 14 lineup went on sale a few weeks ago and buying on of the Pro models, in particular, is still difficult. Lockdowns like this are unlikely to help.