Protests over unpaid bonuses, anti-COVID-19 controls and even food quality led police to clash with hundreds of workers at the world’s largest iPhone factory in China, reports indicated Wednesday.
Social media videos and witnesses in Zhengzhou, where Foxconn operates a giant factory nicknamed “iPhone City,” said police beat and detained protesters.
Apple’s oft-delayed plan to require corporate employees to be in the office three days a week is reportedly back on.
Apple employees are already required to be in the offices two days a week. That will reportedly jump to three days a week starting in early September.
Apple reportedly told its corporate employees the company’s face mask requirement is at its end. There are exceptions, though.
In March, the company removed the requirement for workers who had been vaccinated for COVID-19. After Monday’s policy change, it’s mostly come to an end for all employees.
Anyone wanting a new Apple Studio Display needs to be patient. Order the high-end display now and you could be waiting until August for it. The accessory has apparently run into COVID-related production problems in China.
Unfortunately, there are several other Apple devices with very long wait times.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: That big, flat Apple Watch redesign we expected in 2021 might arrive this year to soothe our lingering disappointment. The latest renders by Ian Zelbo, spurred by a tweet from leaker ShrimpApplePro, make Apple Watch Series 8 look quite appealing.
Also on The CultCast:
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Apple reportedly slowed the pace at which it will require its corporate employees to return to the office. They were scheduled to be back at their desks three days a week starting later this month, but rising numbers of COVID-19 cases supposedly pushed that back.
Apple employees are still required to be in the offices two days a week.
New video out of China shows workers at a MacBook assembly plant in Shanghai fighting with security guards. The Quanta Computer employees have been forced to live at their workplace for weeks amidst COVID-19 lockdowns ordered by the Chinese government.
The workers apparently hoped to leave the facility to go shopping.
People who ordered a top-tier MacBook Pro in February are being notified that it won’t be delivered until June. The delay results from COVID-19 lockdowns in China hampering notebook assembly.
New orders also face delays of several months, making a refurbished 2021 MacBook Pro a better option for some buyers.
Analysts note that new COVID-19 lockdowns in China are hitting Apple’s supply chain hard. And the pain will likely worsen, with production falling behind by up to 10 million iPhones.
And this is not just about iPhones. Authorities have halted production at three key suppliers for iPhone, iPad and Mac assembly. Meanwhile, Apple is negotiating to reopen production lines, though success could be hard to come by, according to one analyst Friday.
This follows recent news of assembly and shipping delays on built-to-order MacBook Pro models.
Monday is the day Apple requires its corporate employees to start working in the office some of the time. The pandemic era when most of them could work from home all the time is over.
But everyone doesn’t have to be back in the office five days a week starting today. This is the beginning of a transition period, after which many workers will still be able to work from home a couple days of every week.
