iPhone 14 Pro Shortage Could Hit 6M Following Unrest

Silicon giant Apple is going through a very rough time if we talk about iPhone 14 series. Reports claim that the iPhone 14 Pro shortage is expected to hit as many as 6 million units before production recovers. The bad piece of news is that the shortfall has made it too late to order either of the Pro models in time for Christmas in many countries. In addition to that, large-scale lockdown protests in Shanghai will also potentially put MacBook production at risk.

Apple Facing Severe iPhone 14 Pro Shortage

Back in November, Apple took the unusual step of warning that iPhone 14 Pro availability was badly hit by COVID-19 restrictions in China.

COVID-19 restrictions have temporarily impacted the primary iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max assembly facility located in Zhengzhou, China. The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity.

After that, things got much worse. Workers started to complain that infections were continuing to spread within the plant and that there wasn’t enough food and medication. Significant numbers of workers chose to break out of the plant and return to their hometowns. However, Foxconn offered bonuses to persuade workers to stay initially and even increased them up to tenfold when it didn’t work. Covid continued to spread, and the plant was placed on an even more stringent lockdown.

Newly recruited workers even filed complaints that they were not being paid the promised bonuses, leading to protests that turned violent. Foxconn admitted that it had made a “technical error” over bonuses and promised to correct it in the near future. Moreover, the company offered an exit payment for new workers who no longer wanted to stay. Reports claim that more than 20,000 workers have accepted this and left the plant.

Due to this whole scenario, November production is almost a third lower than intended, and a new report today suggests that the iPhone 14 Pro shortfall is expected to hit 6 million units. A report states:

Turmoil at Apple Inc.’s key manufacturing hub of Zhengzhou is likely to result in a production shortfall of close to 6 million iPhone Pro units this year, according to a person familiar with assembly operations.

How Foxconn will be able to get production back on track? What will happen next? There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. In addition to that, there have been major protests in Shanghai over COVID-19 lockdowns. Due to major disruption in the city in which most MacBooks are made, there is potential for disruption to MacBook production as well.

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