Delays to iPhone 5 Production? Has Production Already Started?
You may have seen the reports: two killed and 16 injured (three seriously) at a recent explosion at a Foxconn factory in China.
Is this old news?
Well, not necessarily. Questions have been raised as to whether the explosion might have affected production of the iPhone5 at Foxconn’s Schenzhen plant. But the first question is this: has production of the iPhone5 actually started yet?
As readers of Everything4iPhones articles will know by now, we have our own man on the ground (our “Englishman in Hong Kong”). Hong Kong is a mere 40 min away from Schenzhen .
Following his latest visit to Schenzhen, our “Englishman in HK” has discovered the answer :
Yes. Production of the iPhone5 started at least three months ago.
Did the explosion cause any delay?
Foxconn has several factories in China. Its main factory (employing some 500,000 workers) is in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The fire was at Foxconn’s factory at Chengdu which is in Sichuan province – some way away from the Shenzhen factory. The Chengdu factory is only two years’ old. It was built at great speed (in a mere 70 days (which could only happen in China) and at great expense . It houses the iPad2 production line. In common with its other factories, both Chengdu and Shenzhen have polishing departments. Industrial polishing generates aluminium and magnesium dust. Magnesium (used in fireworks) is highly flammable so the extraction system has to be the best possible. Rumour has it that the explosion was caused when magnesium dust was ignited by an electric spark. There have been reports that the extraction system was not up to the job and that workers have complained that their faces and hands are covered in dust, as are their hands, even though they wear gloves. Foxconn is still investigating and our Englishman in Hong Kong has been told that it closed the polishing departments in all its factories. Which, of course, includes Shenzhen. Apparently, the polishing departments have recently re-opened, but the message from Shenzhen is that the closure definitely caused some delay in production of the iPhone5.
There are also other rumours as to why we are having to wait so long for the new phone (apparently the dual-core A5 processor chip is overheating). Our “Englishman in Hong Kong” is receiving intelligence on an almost daily basis from Schenzhen and elsewhere and we should be able to bring you exclusive news not just about production but also about the design and features of the iPhone5.
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