Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone 5s is in great demand. A recent report from the Wall Street Journal claims that over 300,000 employees from Foxconn Technology Co., Ltd. (TPE:2354) (OTCMKTS:FXCOF) are exclusively working towards iPhone 5s production.
Apple shipping all iPhones 5S versions
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is now shipping all versions of the iPhone 5S and shortened the shipping times to three to five business days. Lorraine Luk for the Wall Street Journal explained the matter:
“Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (TPE:2317) (OTCMKTS:HNHPF), also known by its trade name Foxconn, has boosted production capacity for the iPhone 5S at the expense of the cheaper iPhone 5C as requested by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal last month. The Taiwan-based contract manufacturer, which has more than one million workers in China, has operated 100 production lines around the clock in Zhengzhou, north central China, at full capacity, according to executives at Hon Hai. The company has about 300,000 workers at its Zhengzhou site , dedicated to just making the iPhone 5S and key components such as metal casings.”
Apple iPhone 5S assembly time
One unnamed Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (TPE:2317) (OTCMKTS:HNHPF) executive claimed that it takes longer to assemble an iPhone 5S than it does for previous generation iPhones. He also claimed there were initial market concerns over the iPhone 5s. The capacity of Zhenghou production continued to grow in the last two years. Some Hon Hai executives claim the company is slow to expand their iPhone production site too much because they don’t want to lose orders to smaller competitors in 2014.
Prior to this report, the production for the iPhone 5S was constrained. After the launch of the current generation smartphone, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) had a difficult time keeping up with demand. Although the space gray version was easy to find, both the gold and silver/white units were harder to find. It is not surprising that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fans flock towards the more upscale versions of the most popular phone.
