Production of Apple Devices Called Off In India Following COVID-19 Pandemic

NEW DELHI: As the Indian government imposed a nationwide 21-day lockdown to fight off the deadly COVID-19 virus, leading tech giant Apple's manufacturing partners have temporarily shut manufacturing in India till further notice from the govt.

Apple's manufacturing partners Foxconn and Wistron have on a temporary level, closed their production facilities keeping the security of the workers and to abide by the government's decision at their manufacturing plants.

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Local industry sources confirmed to IANS on Thursday that production at Foxconn and Wistron facilities has temporally been suspended as per the government's lockdown notification and directions from local authorities.

Apple supplier Wistron assembled low-end iPhone SE (now discontinued) and is now assembling iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 at its Bengaluru facility. The highest-selling iPhone XR is now being manufactured at Apple supplier Foxconn's facility in Sriperumbudur, Chennai.

Both Foxconn and Wistron also are the key manufacturing partners to several other companies aside from Apple, including Xiaomi.

Samsung has already shut its Noida manufacturing factory and offices due to the lockdown.

"At Samsung, health and safety of employees is our highest priority. As a measure to safeguard our employees and their families against Covid-19 and in compliance with directives from the govt. , we've decided to currently suspend our manufacturing operations and have asked employees at our sales, marketing and R&D offices across India to figure from home," said Partha Ghosh, Head, Corporate Communications, Samsung India.

Several other smartphone makers also are impacted thanks to the nationwide lockdown including the likes of Xiaomi, LG, Motorola, Vivo, Oppo and Realme and have suspended production.

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India is currently under a strict lockdown for 21 days, which began from Tuesday midnight, to stop the novel coronavirus cycle as cases constantly spread.