Apple is facing more manufacturing delays for the new iPhone 14 due to a mass Covid outbreak in China.
Analysts have warned that the tech giant will have to account for further disruption following an outbreak of coronavirus at 'iPhone city', the huge assembly plant in Zhengzhou that is run by Foxconn.
COVID-19 cases in China have rocketed recently after Beijing lifted strict lockdown restrictions after nationwide protests against the rules.
Around 90 per cent of Apple's products are produced in China but the turmoil at the factory has forced the company to consider moving manufacturing to other locations in an attempt to bolster the resilience of its global supply chain.
The firm is accelerating plans to produce iPads in India and is said to be exploring the possibility of producing MacBooks in Vietnam.
Apple has already been hit by lockdown-related delays that have been imposed throughout the year and will be only worsened by the Covid outbreak at the Zhengzhou facility.
Bindiya Vakil, the chief executive of the California-based mapping services group Resilinc, told the Financial Times: "We should be seeing a lot of operations get impacted by absenteeism, not just at factories, but warehouse, distribution, logistic and transportation facilities as well."
Meanwhile, Ming-Chi Kuo - an analyst at TF International Securities - has warned that Apple is on course to "cancel or postpone" mass production of the cheaper-priced SE4 model smartphone because of cost pressures resulting from the global recession that is expected next year.
