Revenues at Foxconn, Apple’s biggest manufacturing partner, fell sharply in November during a crucial pre-holiday period, in the latest signal of the damaging impact of its chaotic handling of a COVID-19 outbreak at the world’s largest iPhone plant, reports the Financial Times.
Foxconn reported $18 billion in revenue last month, down 29% from October and 11% from a year earlier. It is the first time in 12 years that the company has announced a month-on-month fall in November, a time of high production to meet Christmas sales.
The company did not mention the iPhone, but said the drop in smart consumer electronics products—which includes smartphones—was because of “a portion of shipments being impacted by the epidemic in Zhengzhou,” where a coronavirus outbreak in Foxconn’s largest plant has led to weeks of disruption.