Apple’s shipment of iPhone 14 smartphones in 2022 will reach 78.1 million in 2022 due to impact of COVID-19 lockdown on Foxconn’s manufacturing plant in Zhengzhou, says TrendForce.
TrendForce has also lowered its forecast of iPhone shipments (including all existing models) in 1Q23 to 47 million units, with the corresponding decline of 22 percent.
The capacity utilization rate of Foxconn’s major iPhone manufacturing plant in Zhengzhou has not yet risen above the level of 70 percent. The outbreak in Zhengzhou was at its worst just as Apple was trying to ramp up sales of the new iPhone models for this year to a peak, TrendForce said in its latest research report.
Besides the Zhengzhou base, Foxconn is drawing support from its major base located in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Due to the outbreak at Zhengzhou, Apple has decided to use Luxshare as one of the assemblers for the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max. Luxshare’s only iPhone assembly plant is located in China. In Vietnam, Luxshare has a plant for assembling Apple-related accessories, but the company currently has no plan for setting up a new iPhone production line there.
Apple aims to significantly expand the number overseas production sites that are outside China. For 2023, Apple aims to double its device production capacity in India and have factories in Vietnam start making contributions by the middle of the year.
In view of the escalating trade dispute between China and the US, Apple will rely only on production sites outside China to meet the sales demand of the North American market. TrendForce believes that at least 30-35 percent of Apple’s entire device production capacity will have to be located in Vietnam and India.
Apple is also facing a lack of manpower that constrains its device production.
