Coronavirus effect: Two of Apples key manufacturing partners suspend operations in India amidst lockdown

Due to supply chain and logistical constraints rising out of the 21-day lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus, two of Apple’s key manufacturing partners have suspended operations in India. With more than 1.3 billion Indians facing an unprecedented lockdown, smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Realme and Motorola have all suspended manufacturing operations with employees in corporate offices being asked to work from home.

Two of Apple’s manufacturing partners, Foxconn and Wistron Corp. that manufacture iPhones in India have stopped operations. Foxconn confirmed the suspension of operations via a statement to Bloomberg, noting that production will be suspended till April 14, when the 21-day lockdown period ends.

Wistron also confirmed it is adhering to the lockdown orders and has shuttered its factories in India. However, it didn’t say when it plans to resume operations again.

Both Foxconn and Wistron are headquartered in Taiwan. As a result, it’s safe to say that the majority of the manufacturing happens out of the South Asian territory. As early as next week, there were reports that the iPhone 12 was going into production, but with the latest updates around the world regarding the COVID-19 menace and subsequent shutdowns, it’s difficult to say whether everything is going as planned for Apple. Apple, for one, has not spoken about manufacturing disruptions, but it did mandate a two iPhone per purchase policy when purchased from Apple’s website in China. Notably, it did scrap the two iPhone policy three days back.

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