Apple Stores are running low on iPhone replacements and repair parts as COVID-19-related delays begin reaching consumers.
The tech giant informed technical support staff at its stores to expect delays of two to four weeks for replacement phones and individual parts.
Apple manufacturer Foxconn hopes to resume regular production in China by the end of March.
Foxconn’s operations, which include iPhone production lines, have been severely impacted by the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. The world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer previously said it expects its full-year revenues to take a hit.
Two suppliers that make components for Apple in China employ forced labor, according to a report published Sunday. The Washington Post says BOE Technology Group, which supplies screens to Apple, and O-Film, which makes iPhone cameras, both use Uighur labor, either directly or through contractors. Apple lists both companies on its latest supplier list.
The report describes how the Chinese government detained more than 1 million ethnic Uighurs from China’s western Xinjiang region in reeducation camps. And it says evidence indicates that authorities “are moving Uighurs into government-directed labour around the country as part of the central government’s Xinjiang Aid initiative.”
CEO Tim Cook promises Apple is fundamentally strong and will weather the problems resulting from the coronavirus spreading around the world. He says his focus isn’t on short-term changes in Apple’s share price, despite a recent significant drop.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox Business recorded Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama, Cook also discussed whether his company will move more device production out of China, and his relationship with President Donald Trump.
One veteran executive is leaving Apple, while another exec is considering departing the company as well, a new report claims. Both worked in the operations and supply-chain management side.
Nick Forlenza, a vice president of manufacturing design, has retired from Apple. Meanwhile, Duco Pasmooij, a vice president of operations, is discussing an exit in the near future. The operations side of Apple is currently facing challenges related to the outbreak of coronavirus in China, where many of Apple’s supply-side contractors are located.
Tossed into the swirl of rumors and reports about coronavirus and its impact on Apple production is an alleged new entry to the AirPods lineup called “AirPods Pro Lite.”
The quotes bookending the product name are because no one is sure what to make of what is essentially a rumor first reported by a Chinese website with a mixed record for accuracy.
In the last few days, reports have surfaced in DigiTimes of a second “lite” version supplier, giving further credence to the various reports.
The Chinese government developed an app that lets users check whether they are at risk of infection from the novel coronavirus spreading across the country.
The location-aware “close contact detector” app reveals whether users have been close to another person suspected of having coronavirus. The data-hungry app serves as yet another illustration of China’s surveillance-heavy approach to controlling its citizens.
Key iPhone manufacturer Foxconn continues to feel the effects of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China. The company recently reopened its factory in the eastern central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, but fewer than 10% of its workforce returned to work, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government rejected Foxconn’s request to reopen its factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The Chinese company that assembles most of the world’s iPhones has ordered employees in one region of the country not to return to work next week to prevent further spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Foxconn sent text messages to Shenzhen-based employees that those sites will remain closed until further notice. While Foxconn’s main iPhone factory is in Zhengzhou, a portion is assembled in Shenzhen. Shenzhen is also the headquarters for Foxconn’s parent company, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
Apple’s manufacturing partners in China hope to jump back into action next week, after the coronavirus epidemic forced temporary shutdowns in the country, according to a new report.
Foxconn, LG Display and others “plan to resume full-scale production” on February 10. But with the viral outbreak only worsening as the weeks go on, there’s a definite chance of further delays.
Government-ordered quarantines in place to contain a deadly coronavirus outbreak in China have forced Apple to temporarily close three stores in the country.
Apple’s good news about a record-breaking quarter this week have been tempered as executives monitor conditions in a country critical to the mass production of its most popular devices, especially the iPhone.
In a feature piece based largely on background sources, The Wall Street Journal on Thursday profiled Tony Blevins, Apple’s vice president of procurement, giving a unique insight into the dog-eat-dog business of buying components from third-party suppliers for Apple products.
Apple supplier Pegatron is looking to Vietnam as a location to possibly carry out some of its manufacturing work.
The move would help Pegatron, one of Apple’s biggest suppliers, diversify beyond its current home in China.
Struggling Apple display maker Japan Display claims it has nailed down an extra $830 million in bailout financial support from Japanese asset manager Ichigo Asset Management.
Ichigo joins Apple and Apple contract manufacturer Wistron in the effort to save the beleaguered business. And it wouldn’t have done it without Cupertino’s support.
Apple could sell upward of 3 million AirPods units during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping holidays, claims Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
Ives bases his guesstimate on Apple Store checks, inventory levels at a number of retailers, and more. Overall, Ives thinks Apple will sell more than 65 million AirPods units this year — and even more will follow in 2020.
Apple display-maker Japan Display may be struggling — but one of its executives apparently hasn’t been. The firm revealed today that it fired an accounting executive last year for allegedly embezzling $5.3 million over four years.
Japan Display is now cooperating with police in a criminal investigation of the unnamed employee.
Japan’s Fair Trade Commission is investigating Apple’s tactics for selling iPhones in the country.
The Japanese FTC thinks Apple might have abused its power by pressuring Japanese suppliers into unfavorable deals. Questionable methods allegedly include providing free technology and expertise to Apple affiliates, stopping them from selling to other companies, and making them shoulder costs for unforeseen problems.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives thinks this could be a bad time for Apple to shake up its supply chain by moving iPhone manufacturing out of China.
In a note to clients, Ives singles out the first 5G iPhone and the launch of Apple TV+ as reasons why Apple should seek to minimize stress right now. In other words, Apple execs could do without the “gargantuan” headache that shifting around its supply chain would involve.
Apple may help out struggling display-maker Japan Display, a new report claims.
Japan Display, which makes screens for the iPhone XR and an upcoming Apple Watch model, suffered a devastating blow this week. After appearing to have sorted out a bailout from a Chinese consortium, several members dropped out.
Apple’s third-generation AirPods could bring big internal design changes, according to a new report.
Supply chain sources claim Apple will switch to system-in-package (SiP) technology that frees up space inside each bud. The move could allow other components to be squeezed inside the tiny wireless headphones.
Foxconn is reportedly “within weeks” of starting trial production of the iPhone XS in India, Bloomberg reports.
Manufacturing will take place at a Foxconn factory in the southern city of Chennai. Rival manufacturer Wistron already makes the iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and — now — the iPhone 7 at its own facility in Bangalore.
iPhone display-maker Japan Display says it is in line for a financial injection that could bail out the struggling company.
The firm said Monday that it will raise up to 110 billion yen ($990 million) in new financing as early as this week. Japan Display has been suffering as a result of the slowdown in iPhone sales and Apple’s shift to OLED screens.
Tim Cook is seriously underrated. Seven years after taking over as CEO from Steve Jobs, the narrative that he’s riding his predecessor’s coattails needs to change. It’s just not true.
Cook is his own man, transforming Apple in his own way. See Monday’s Apple credit card and subscription News+ app as examples, which are centered on customer privacy, a big Tim Cook mandate.
The company today is a better corporate citizen than it was in the past. And as a business, it’s firing on all cylinders. Cook is doing almost everything right. Some pundits are beginning to argue he’s Apple’s best CEO yet.
Over the years, Apple took heavy criticism for employing an offshore supply chain rife with abuse. The company is still stained by the rash of worker suicides in 2010 at Foxconn, its main supplier.
But as Apple’s latest Supplier Responsibility report shows, the company continues to make remarkable strides to improve conditions for workers and the environment.
Apple stock took another plunge yesterday, finishing down 4.4 percent. The reason for the fall is continuing concerns about the iPhone, which have caused numerous analysts to downgrade their price targets for AAPL.
It’s not just Apple that’s being affected, either. The company’s suppliers have also been hit by fears about the future of iPhone sales. Multiple suppliers associated with Apple have seen their stock prices decline by up to 5 percent as a result.
