iPhone 12 Production Halted in India by Protests Over Food Poisoning - MacRumors
Skip to Content

iPhone 12 Production Halted in India by Protests Over Food Poisoning

by

iPhone 12 production in India has been halted by protests over food poisoning at a Foxconn factory, Reuters reports.

iPhone 12 Made in India
Foxconn's manufacturing plant near Chennai in southern India, which produces iPhone 12 models, is set to remain shut this week after protests by workers. Protestors reportedly blocked a major highway leading to the plant in response to 150 employees being admitted to hospital with food poisoning last week. The incident is said to have inflamed other employee concerns that have since been reported to the state labor ministry.

The temporary closure is expected to have a minimal impact on Apple in the short term, but it could have ramifications for ramping up production going into 2022. The disruption comes amid other supply chain constraints for Apple, which have been expected to worsen during the holiday quarter. The facility also makes Amazon Fire TV sticks and some devices for Xiaomi.

Earlier today, it was reported that Apple plans to manufacture iPhone 13 models at the Chennai facility, even though the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 are currently believed to be the best-selling iPhones in India.

Tags: Foxconn, India
Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

apple india

India Moves to Extend Tax Break Apple Lobbied For

Monday August 3, 2026 8:59 am PDT by
India has proposed extending tax breaks until 2041 for foreign companies that supply machinery to their contract manufacturers, handing a win to Apple as it expands iPhone production in the country, Reuters reports. Introduced in February, the exemption previously ran only until 2031, and Apple had long since lobbied against being taxed on the high-end iPhone machinery it owns in India. The...
Read Full Article • 9 comments
apple india

Apple's Annual India Sales Surpass $10 Billion for First Time

Tuesday August 4, 2026 5:37 am PDT by
Apple's annual sales in India surpassed $10 billion for the first time in the fiscal year ending in March, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg, as the company continues to widen its retail footprint in the country. Revenue grew at a double-digit percentage rate over the 12 months through March, up from about $9 billion a year earlier, with iPhones accounting for a ...
Read Full Article • 14 comments
Apple Pay Feature

Apple Pay to Launch in India by October

Tuesday August 11, 2026 5:58 am PDT by
Apple Pay will launch in India by this October, reports Business Standard, citing people familiar with the matter. Apple Pay will support major credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard, but it won't support transactions via the country's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) at launch. Apple would need clearance from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for that to happen, plus...
Read Full Article • 15 comments

Top Rated Comments

baryon Avatar
baryon
61 months ago
Dammit poor people! Stop protesting about your inhumane working conditions and make my new iPhone! My old one is nearly a year old and I'm bored of it!
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
MauiPa
61 months ago

Uh oh! Not a great feeling to be reminded your iPhone was made in a sweatshop.

Meanwhile Tim Apple keeps printing money.
ummm. Did you see Amazon and Xiaomi also use this factory? Almost all manufacturing for all brands is done by separate companies, some in India, some in china, Vietnam, Thailand, of which Apple has somewhat higher standards than others, although hard to control when your manufacturer is an unrelated third party..... In fact Samsung uses its own factories (vertical integration), but their conditions are typical for this industry and not much better. So, if you restate your comment without Apple, or as inclusion of the whole industry, you would be correct. Manufacturing in general is not a high paying job ripe with benefits. in a related matter, just look at how poorly amazon treats its employees, talk about a sweat shop

Not to belittle the problem, but these people deserve better by all industries and all companies
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G
gorillab35!
61 months ago
Wow. No empathy for workers I see.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
Kevin2055
61 months ago
It is been suggested to only drink bottle water when travel to India.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sideshowuniqueuser Avatar
sideshowuniqueuser
61 months ago

Uh oh! Not a great feeling to be reminded your iPhone was made in a sweatshop.

Meanwhile Tim Apple keeps printing money.
It's obviously far far from the worlds worst working conditions. The fact that they can go on strike for a week and still have a job at the end of it says that they have quite a bit of power to fight for better conditions.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
JPack
61 months ago
It’s about infrastructure and education. Some people seem to think Apple could manufacture in the middle of the desert without automated ports, high speed rail, or other supply chain necessities. They don’t even think about the basics like literacy, access to water, or electricity.

A few years ago, the Indian government embarked on an enormous mission simply to eliminate public defecation because of the health hazards and poor sanitation associated with it. Some things, you can’t blame Apple or Foxconn for because such problems wouldn’t even come across your mind in the first place.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments