The smartphones in the iPhone 15 family are about to be released. In a few hours we will see if the leaks have achieved their goal again, but one thing we know for sure: Foxconn did it several weeks to make them. This Taiwanese company’s factory in Zhengzhou, China, is the heart of its Apple mobile phone production infrastructure. This has been around for several generations and its role hasn’t changed with the iPhone 15.
Foxconn has been going through a rough patch recently. The strict control that the Chinese government imposed on both companies and the population during the pandemic triggered a brain drain that severely degraded the workforce of this multinational corporation. This situation led to a reduction in its production capacity, and last year Foxconn had great difficulty maintaining the production rate of iPhone 14 terminals agreed with Apple.
The residents of Cupertino certainly hope that the launch of the iPhone 15 will be a success, and to achieve this, Apple must be able to place a sufficient number of smartphones in stores. to meet demand. The ball is in Foxconn’s court, and under these circumstances the greatest pressure falls on the factory with the largest production capacity: the Zhengzhou factory. This company cannot afford to lay off employees like last year and has taken action to do so.
Foxconn has found a way to attract new workers: incentives
In December 2022, at a time when the Zhengzhou factory was supposed to produce iPhone 14 terminals without interruption, Foxconn was about 100,000 workers short. Given this shortage, it was impossible to achieve the production volume agreed with Apple, so the launch of the iPhone 15 campaign forced the company to take positions and strengthen itself in advance. And it did so by relying on a strategy that is common in Western countries but not in China: incentives.
Workers at the Zhengzhou plant will receive a bonus of about $880
Workers at the Zhengzhou factory involved in the production of the mechanical elements of the new iPhone will receive a bonus of approximately $880 during the current production campaign. This measure aims to retain the employees of this factory and is also a clear attempt to attract more staff in order to reach the production volume required for the launch of the iPhone 15 family of smartphones.
In mid-2019, at a time when the technology war between the US and China was already underway but had not yet reached the ferocity it currently has, a Foxconn executive came to the fore to ensure that production would be redirected could, if circumstances warranted, of iPhones intended for the US market outside China’s borders. The countries best positioned as alternatives to the Xi Jinping-led state are India and Vietnam, but even today, four years after these statements, China continues to act as Foxconn’s productive muscle. And from Apple.
