COVID-19: After Samsung, Apple temporarily shuts production in India

March 26, 2020
New Delhi: With the Indian government imposing a nationwide 21-day lockdown to combat COVID-19, leading tech giant Apple’s manufacturing partners have temporarily shut manufacturing in India till further notice from the government.

Apple’s manufacturing partners Foxconn and Wistron have temporarily closed their production facilities keeping the safety of the workers and comply with the government’s decision at their manufacturing plants.

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 instructions 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 are also the key manufacturing partners to many other companies apart from Apple, including Xiaomi.

Samsung has already shut its Noida manufacturing factory and offices owing 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 government, we have decided to currently suspend our manufacturing operations and have asked employees at our sales, marketing and R&D offices across India to work from home,” said Partha Ghosh, Head, Corporate Communications, Samsung India.

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

India is currently under a strict lockdown for 21 days, starting from Tuesday midnight, to break the novel coronavirus cycle as cases continue to spread. IANS