Bloomberg is reporting that Apple’s iPhone 5 production is slowing down in an attempt to reduce the number of devices shipping with nicks and scratches. And its apparently doing so by improving aluminium quality control at Foxconn.
Sources have told Bloomberg that senior Apple managers insisted at the end of September that Foxconn pick up its game to tighten production standards. The metal cases are now being more closely scrutinised before they make it on to a phone. The knock-on effect: fewer scratches, but fewer iPhones too.
It’s only natural for aluminium to scuff and scratch, and putting a phone together offers plenty of opportunities for it to happen. But in reality phones shouldn’t be shipped in a state where they’re already damaged. Clearly Apple realises that.
Currently, the quality clampdown means fewer of the phone’s metal housings are being approved for use — to the extent that Foxconn even had to halt production for a day at one factory in Shenzhen. Apple will no doubt want to find a middle ground as soon as possible, where damage is minimised without affecting production too much. [Bloomberg]