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With 200,000 workers, Foxconn still can’t keep up with iPhone 6 demand

Published Sep 17th, 2014 8:35AM EDT
iPhone 6 Sales

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Foxconn has more than 200,000 factory workers in a single location at its plant in Zhengzhou, China, and each and every one is doing nothing but work on building the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The world’s top device manufacturer is working so hard that it is churning out nearly 550,000 new iPhone handsets each and every day… and yet it still can’t manage to keep up with stunning demand for Apple’s new, larger iPhones.

DON’T MISS: Watch this: Early iPhone 6 and 6 Plus video reviews are already live!

Apple on Monday announced that it received more than 4 million combined preorders for the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the first 24 hours of availability. That huge figure doubled Apple’s previous 24-hour preorder record, which was set by the iPhone 5 in 2012. Last year, Apple didn’t accept any preorders for the iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c.

In an article published on Wednesday just two days before the release of Apple’s next-generation iPhone models, The Wall Street Journal says that Foxconn is struggling to keep up with massive iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus demand.

“We have been churning out 140,000 iPhone 6 Plus and 400,000 iPhone 6 every day, the highest daily output ever, but the volume is still not enough to meet the preorders,” an unnamed Foxconn employee told the paper. “For iPhone 6 Plus, we are still ramping up the production line. Another reason for the limited supply is the shortage of 5.5-inch displays.”

Preorder inventory of iPhone 6 Plus sold out fast last Friday morning, and it looks like earlier rumors suggesting Apple’s larger iPhone would be in short supply for some time following its release were indeed accurate.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.