iPhones’ shortage expected? Major fire breaks out at Foxlink factory in India

A major fire broke out at India’s Foxlink factory, which manufactures iPhone charging cables, and experts say this could disrupt global supplies of iPhones.

According to Reuters, the fire broke out in the early morning hours of Tuesday. The cause of the fire is still unknown, but according to the newspaper, most of the firefighting equipment—including smoke detectors, fire sprinkler system, and fire hydrants—were malfunctioning, resulting in much longer time to contain and extinguish the fire.

As a result of the fire, a part of the factory building completely collapsed, and four of ten assembly lines were critically damaged. None of the factory workers were injured.

According to the source, the work of the six production lines that “survived” the fire can be resumed only at the end of the week when specialists restore the IT systems and servers. And it will take about two months to restore the damaged lines.

In addition to Foxlink factory, which is located in the Chittoor District of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Apple has about ten other facilities in India; but Foxlink is considered the company's main supplier in this country. Due to the temporary shutdown of this plant, there may be problems with the supply of iPhones in all regions that receive Apple's smartphones made in India.

But this is not the first time when problems arise in a factory manufacturing products for Apple. In 2022, mass unrest broke out at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, China, due to restrictions and salary delays caused by the spread of the coronavirus, which led to problems with the production and supply of the iPhone 14. For example, in the current quarter, the supply amount of the Apple iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max decreased by about 15-20 million. These problems, according to experts, can also affect the company's revenue, which, according to the results of the quarter, can be reduced by 20-30%.