Foxconn Facing Display Shortages as it Struggles to Meet iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Demand

[MrX8503]

I think that he meant (correct me if I'm wrong) that Apple has a bunch of money the bank. Apple could easily afford to invest in more manufacturing/assembling plants to produce more iPhones.

That's like saying if you throw enough money at cancer research we can find a cure next year. Throwing money at a company to acquire them is different from throwing money at manufacturing/assembly plants. If it's that easy why does Apple still need Samsung? I mean Apple has ALL this money can't they just throw money at the problem and make their own chips?

NO

nobody is returning their adapter, apples customers at any launch are the die hards not the casual customer that may or may not purchase.

Returning their adapter?

There will be plenty of new adopters at launch and Apple surely wants to provide them with an iPhone to purchase.

 

[Jazper]

540,000 units a day. 200,000 workers.
That's 2.7 iPhones a day quota per person.
Doesn't sound like a very efficient assembly line to me.

Yeah, there's tons of stages, some obviously taking longer than others and these factories are some of the most efficient ones since they're forced to work hard and have very little, if no breaks.

"Foxconn reportedly has hired more than 200,000 workers"

So 200,000 of us are getting a phone which is the first one these new employees are building - employees who probably know there's going to be out of a job as soon as the big rush is over...

Foxconn worker: I'll just leave this wire a little loose.

 

[heisenberg123]

That's like saying if you throw enough money at cancer research we can find a cure next year. Throwing money at a company to acquire them is different from throwing money at manufacturing/assembly plants. If it's that easy why does Apple still need Samsung? I mean Apple has ALL this money can't they just throw money at the problem and make their own chips?

NO



Returning their adapter?

There will be plenty of new adopters at launch and Apple surely wants to provide them with an iPhone to purchase.

apple will not lose one sheep over any delay

 

[slimjimtx]

I just got some good news. My order from AT&T for the 128GB iPhone 6 Plus now has had its expected ship date changed to 10/2/2014-10/13/2014 from 11/9/2014-11/27/2014. Must be all that clean living. Karma really does work!

 

[heisenberg123]

I just got some good news. My order from AT&T for the 128GB iPhone 6 Plus now has had its expected ship date changed to 10/2/2014-10/13/2014 from 11/9/2014-11/27/2014. Must be all that clean living. Karma really does work!

your orginaly date look off, I thought delays were 3-4 weeks?

 

[Thereisnowill]

I just got some good news. My order from AT&T for the 128GB iPhone 6 Plus now has had its expected ship date changed to 10/2/2014-10/13/2014 from 11/9/2014-11/27/2014. Must be all that clean living. Karma really does work!

Congrats! I had an order with ATT that gave me an estimate like the above November 9 - 27, decided to book through Apple.com directly and got a ship time of October 1 - 6. It is clean living! That combined with staying up almost all night during preorder night to try literally every avenue to order haha

 

[linuxcooldude]

this is true it would need to be planned months in advance, but this delay game has been going on for years so apple clearly likes it and does not see the need for more plants

Have not had any indication or proof that Apple likes delays. Delays would mean delays in getting cash back for their investment in any newly released iPhones. Can't make your stock investors happy in any delays either.

 

[guzhogi]

That's like saying if you throw enough money at cancer research we can find a cure next year. Throwing money at a company to acquire them is different from throwing money at manufacturing/assembly plants. If it's that easy why does Apple still need Samsung? I mean Apple has ALL this money can't they just throw money at the problem and make their own chips?

NO

I realize that throwing money at a problem ≠ fixing it. However, the poster I quoted had quoted this:

Think about it. They can throw 3 billion at beats to acquire them...they can make more than 10 million iPhones in the timeframe they had if they wanted.

The person I quoted asked what buying Beats for $3 billion had to do with speeding up the time frame. So I speculated that the original poster meant that Apple might be able to afford to open/rent more manufacturing plants. I in no way meant that the other logistical issues (manpower, training, getting the proper equipment) were as easy to solve.

Sorry for any confusion!

 

[spectrumfox]

So horrible to say but very true, I remember watching a video on one of the Foxconn factories and people would line up like crazy as if there was a new ride opening up at an amusement park. If people keep coming back and wanting to work there then there must be something positive to it.

Yes, sweat shops have such allure.

Then again, most people would prefer to work rather than die in the streets.

 

[Yelmurc]

I'm sure a lot of people want there phone now! and hearing about this is worrisome since they will not get there phone as soon as they wanted. I can't imagine the mountains that have to be moved in order to fulfill these orders the scale is amazing. I'm sure making 4 million paperclips is hard I can't even image the logistics of this.

 

[bbeagle]

If you think a company as big as apple couldn't hire another company to help foxconn manufacturer 50% more phones, you're crazy. They could.

How do you know?

How long does Apple need this '50% more production'? 4 weeks? Do you know that Apple has shopped around and found that a manufacturer won't work ONLY 4 weeks with Apple? Maybe another manufacturer wants a guarantee of at least 1 year of production. It takes a lot of money, time and effort to hire all these people, set up the machines and assembly line, work through all the supply chain demands, etc.

Somehow you're an 'expert' in that you KNOW Apple can get this done, when you know nothing of how the industry works.

Do you remember Christmas 2013 (just last year), where UPS got into trouble not delivering packages in time for Christmas? It wasn't possible for them to ramp up enough to get all the packages delivered. There just weren't enough planes and trucks to handle their increased volume the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas, no matter what they did.

 

[MrX8503]

apple will not lose one sheep over any delay

Plenty of Android users will be converting, I don't think Apple wants to take any risk. They even put up an Android convert to iPhone page.

I realize that throwing money at a problem ≠ fixing it. However, the poster I quoted had quoted this:



The person I quoted asked what buying Beats for $3 billion had to do with speeding up the time frame. So I speculated that the original poster meant that Apple might be able to afford to open/rent more manufacturing plants. I in no way meant that the other logistical issues (manpower, training, getting the proper equipment) were as easy to solve.

Sorry for any confusion!

I know what the poster meant. I'm refuting that just because Apple can afford it, doesn't mean they can do it.

 

[slimjimtx]

your orginaly date look off, I thought delays were 3-4 weeks?

AT&T was quoting 21+ business days when I ordered Friday morning. They've since revised the estimated shipping to an earlier range of dates...

----------

Congrats! I had an order with ATT that gave me an estimate like the above November 9 - 27, decided to book through Apple.com directly and got a ship time of October 1 - 6. It is clean living! That combined with staying up almost all night during preorder night to try literally every avenue to order haha

I tried ordering through Apple first, but couldn't get through. Went to AT&T and placed my order and was initially annoyed that it was going to take so long... I'm glad they revised the ship date!

 

[chr1s60]

Lets do some math:

140k iPhone 6+ per day
400k iPhone 6 per day.

Reports of July ramp up, lets put 6 working days in there:

140*26 = 3.64M units before launch
400*26 = 10.4M units before launch

And its still NOT ENOUGH?! Dang it Apple, get your act together!

I imagine the main issue is the huge gap between the Plus and the regular 6. I think the Plus sold much better than Apple expected, despite the higher price. Of the 5 or 6 people I know getting a new iPhone, only one is getting the regular 6.
I also think a lot more people upgraded their storage to the 64 instead of the base 16 this time around as every year app sizes seem to go up, as well as the size of a single picture. 16gb is hard to get by with on a phone anymore if you plan to carry much on it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[bbeagle]

Plenty of Android users will be converting, I don't think Apple wants to take any risk. They even put up an Android convert to iPhone page.

heisenberg will somehow call all these Android converts 'sheep'. I'd like to hear his explanation on this one.

 

[linuxcooldude]

http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/20/iphone-4-antenna-sales/

That should take care of these naysays that are saying they are purposely limiting sales to create more demand.

 

[peterdevries]

this is true it would need to be planned months in advance, but this delay game has been going on for years so apple clearly likes it and does not see the need for more plants

Do you have any factual evidence for this besides the fact that the products are scarce at launch?

If this were indeed a game, why does Apple do staggered releases in countries?

 

[lockerc18]

Apple should just send out build it yourself kit.

I thought that was what the HeathKit was for.

Oh... HEALTHKit, not HEATHKit.

(A little old geezer humor. Very little.)

 

[hugodrax]

And in a few years Apple will bring production of the iPhones to the US because automation will make it cheaper to assemble here than to assemble in China and ship them.

no, they will just do the automation in china.

Many people think that labor or taxes is the only reason companies outsource to china.

The reason companies outsource to china is you can dump toxic waste right into the drinking water, pollute the air all you want and there are no OSHA laws to deal with, ADA laws, discrimination laws, child labor laws etc..

all that adds up.

 

[macs4nw]

Lets do some math:

140k iPhone 6+ per day
400k iPhone 6 per day.

Reports of July ramp up, lets put 6 working days in there:

140*26 = 3.64M units before launch
400*26 = 10.4M units before launch

And its still NOT ENOUGH?! Dang it Apple, get your act together!

Not to nitpick, but didn't you forget the August production totals of an additional 31 days x 540k phones?

 

[linuxcooldude]

no, they will just do the automation in china.

Many people think that labor or taxes is the only reason companies outsource to china.

The reason companies outsource to china is you can dump toxic waste right into the drinking water, pollute the air all you want and there are no OSHA laws to deal with, ADA laws, discrimination laws, child labor laws etc..

all that adds up.

I really doubt it has to do with any of that. Biggest reason perhaps besides cheaper labour, logistics. Nearly all factories to produce the raw materials that Foxconn needs is very close to them in China. Fabrication changes can be done in hours, instead of weeks or months.

 

[Col4bin]

We hear these same reports every year, post launch…blah, blah, blah.

Apple's put in their orders. There'll be iPhone 6's for all.

 

[JoEw]

Does it take an expert to figure out that simple math problem??

Also realize those are completed iPhone numbers, if the yeild rate is at 50% which I could imagine given this is not an s release it would be more like 5 or 6 phones per person, per day.

 

[Col4bin]

I thought that was what the HeathKit was for.

Oh... HEALTHKit, not HEATHKit.

(A little old geezer humor. Very little.)

Is that a reference to the KIT from Knight Rider? Cool!

 

[luckysob]

What hurts my head is the fact that there are 200,000 human beings working in a plant assembling electronics.

And that a single company has 1,000,000 employees that are not wearing a military uniform? Wow!