The tightening Covid-19 restrictions in China can impact Apple iPhones as production could fall by as much as 30 per cent at one of the biggest iPhone suppliers, the media has reported. China's Zhengzhou city is witnessing strict curbs in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak which could slash the manufacturing site's November output, said a report by news agency Reuters on Monday, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
However, to compensate, Apple's contract supplier Foxconn is working to increase production at another facility in Shenzhen city, the Reuters report added.
Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant in central China employs about 2,00,000 workers and has been rocked by discontent over strict measures to check the transmission of Covid-19 within the site, with several migrant workers seen fleeing the facility over the weekend.
Videos on Chinese social media sites have surfaced that show workers fleeing China's largest iPhone plant in Covid-hit Zhengzhou, amid a lockdown triggered by the outbreak of coronavirus.
Photographs and videos are being circulated on Chinese social media sites that show how Foxconn's migrant workers are returning home, trekking across fields during the day and along roads at night.
A migrant worker was quoted as saying by Financial Times that they jumped a plastic and metal fence to escape the campus. They said that the area surrounding the plant had been "locked down for days" and those who tested positive for Coronavirus are being tested daily to check the transmission.
Meanwhile, Apple has decided to cut down on the production of the iPhone 14 Plus due to the low demand for the model. The iPhone maker has asked at least one Apple supplier to immediately halt production of the iPhone 14 and has also contacted two component suppliers to lower production of the iPhone 14 by up to 90 per cent.