14 DAY TRIAL // Foxconn appears to have timely squeezed in another factory tour for the mass media just as Apple is preparing to give the go-ahead for iPhone 5 assembly. The tour was led by none other than Foxconn CEO, Terry Gou.
Likely in an effort to further clean up its tarnished image, last week, Foxconn management allowed Chinese reporters to go inside its newly-erected facility in Zhengshou, China, where Apple’s current-generation iPhones are still manufactured by the thousands each day.
The Next Web translated some of the coverage to inform that the tour begins where iPhone 4S displays are handled, then the motherboards, noting that the motherboard sector produces no less than 10,000 units a day.
The hardware then goes into what is referred to as “a clean room,” where the cameras are set in place.
As the video embedded below shows, Foxconn’s workers are assembling only current-generation iPhones. They’ll soon start putting together newer versions of the elusive smartphone.
Mr. Li Jiaxiang, the Administrator of the Civil Aviation Authority of China, is quoted as stating that 70% of Apple’s iPhones would be assembled by the Zhengzhou plant this year. The merchandise would translate into some 200 tons of international cargo every day, reports inform.
What is clear from the video, and these figures, is that Apple will not have an iPhone 5 announcement at its Worldwide Developers Conference which kicks off in less than two weeks.
The company will most likely give Foxconn the order to start iPhone 5 assembly soon after WWDC 2012 is over, or even at a later date, for a potential October launch. It appears Apple has officially switched its iPhone refresh cycle to autumn.
