Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou told reporters that the Taipei-based manufacturer is struggling to meet demand for the iPhone 5. “Market demand is very strong, but we just can’t really fulfill Apple’s requests,” said Gou. The Foxconn chairman didn’t indicate when Foxconn will be able to meet demand, and he refused to comment on whether Apple was turning to other manufacturers to help pick up the slack.
Gou didn’t give a reason for the delay, but many analysts blame strict quality control measures and the iPhone’s propensity to scratch as reasons for the slowed production. When the iPhone 5 first arrived, some units were delivered with small scratches on the chamfered edges of the device. Foxconn allegedly tightened quality control to prevent the shipping of blemished handsets, which has put extra stress on already over-worked production line workers. This extra burden has led to several strikes and worker unrest in the past few months.
[Via WSJ]