Travel restrictions to China because of the coronavirus have come just as Apple’s engineers usually jet off to Asia to perfect the production of this fall’s new iPhones, reported Reuters.
High-volume manufacturing is not scheduled until summer, but the first months of the year are when Apple irons out assembly processes with partners such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s Foxconn, two former Apple employees told Reuters.
Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, delayed reopening key iPhone factories in Shenzhen and Zhengzhou after the Lunar New Year holiday but hopes to resume half of its Chinese production by the end of February.
Senior Foxconn officials who have been working remotely from Taipei since the holiday have not yet returned to China on a large scale, said a Reuters source, speaking of company officials generally.