Apple shares fell by 2 percent today, Monday, after a report by Bloomberg news agency that the company may witness a shortage in the production of iPhone 14 Pro phones by about 6 million units due to unrest at the Foxconn factory in China.
Bloomberg quoted a source as saying that Apple and Foxconn, which manufactures its devices, expect to be able to make up for this shortfall in 2023.
The turmoil at Foxconn comes amid protests in China against the government’s strict policy on the Coronavirus, in which cases have risen at a record rate in recent days, which has led to the declaration of home quarantine and the closure of businesses in many major cities.
Protests against the closures have erupted across the country, including Foxconn’s iPhone assembly facility in Zhengzhou, China.
Foxconn employees protested food shortages, salary issues, and the company’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. Reuters reported last week that employees broke cameras and windows during some of the protests.
Foxconn said last week that it would continue to communicate with employees and the government to prevent similar violent incidents. It added that it also continues to communicate with employees about payment concerns and that it will “make every effort to resolve employee concerns and reasonable demands.”
Analysts are concerned about recent outages in manufacturing ahead of the holiday season. Today, Monday, market analytics company Counterpoint Research issued instructions stating that the delivery dates for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max have been greatly delayed.
