China is currently experiencing a significant spike in COVID-19 cases in several major cities. This bamboo curtain country experienced an average increase of 28,243 new cases in the past week.
The increase in COVID-19 cases in China is having a huge impact on the technology industry. This is because China is one of the major suppliers for smartphone vendors such as Apple.
Recently, reports emerged revealing that iPhone production and shipments were disrupted due to the lockdown in Zhengzhou city.
According to Bloomberg, Chinese authorities have announced that an area in the Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone has been quarantined.
Quarantine began on Friday, April 15, 2022 and resulted in the public not being allowed to leave their homes until further notice.
Bloomberg reports that the largest iPhone factory owned by Foxconn has also been affected by the lockdown. The company required staff to take COVID tests in recent days.
Currently, Apple and Foxconn have not provided information about the impact of the lockdown on factory operations. However, it is strongly suspected that Foxconn suspended their factory operations in Zhengzhou.
If the allegations are true, the suspension of operations of this plant will be the second after Foxconn’s factory in Shenzhen.
According to analysts, the recent lockdown in China resulted in the loss of 6 to 10 million iPhone units. At the same time, production of devices such as the high-end MacBook Pro and iPad Air 5 will also be affected.
Other suppliers such as Pegatron and Quanta Computer have also suspended their operations in East China. This of course has a negative impact on the supply stock of Apple products.