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Tag: Foxconn

  • Foxconn Opens $25 Million Research Center

    According to Taiwanese publication DigiTimes, Foxconn Electronics this week officially opened a new research and development facility in Nanning, China. Foxconn reportedly sunk $24.6 million into the facility.

    The report states that the center will be used for research and development, as well as testing and certification of various products. The facility is expected to have individual labs for projects such as testing products for reliability, failure analysis, and electromagnetic compatibility. It will also house a new cloud computing datacenter for Foxconn.

    DigiTimes reports that the new facility will begin research next year with 10 separate projects to be completed throughout 2014. Up to 1,000 researchers are expected to be employed at the facility within two years.

    Foxconn is best known as the Chinese manufacturer behind Apple’s iPhone and iPad products. The company is also infamous for hiring underage workers and for a poor work environment, problems it has tried to correct in recent years. The company has since become one of the most successful manufacturers in China, and produces products and components for a wide variety of tech brands.

    Having found success, Foxconn has recently moved into areas outside of manufacturing, something its new R&D facility could be meant to help with. Earlier this year it was reported that the company is set to become a 4G mobile data provider in Taiwan.

  • Foxconn Raises Age Limit For Hiring

    Foxconn Raises Age Limit For Hiring

    Ever since Foxconn became Apple’s main manufacturer of the iPhone, the Chinese company has become the focus of many human rights and worker’s rights organizations around the world. Through Apple, the company has become one of the most closely watched manufacturing operations in the world.

    Largely due to poor past inspections of its working conditions, Foxconn has raised worker pay and cut mandatory hours on multiple occasions. The company still battles employee rights issues, such as riots and the widely reported suicides at its sprawling, city-like manufacturing facilities.

    The most well-known and damning allegations against the company, however, involve the hiring of underage workers. In late 2012, the organization China Labor Watch released a report showing that a “small number” of 14 to 16 year olds interned at Foxconn during the summer. The company admitted to hiring these workers, though it claims this was a mistake, as many young Chinese workers are desperate enough for work to falsify their age.

    Now, Foxconn has raised the age requirements for hiring at its Zhengzhou manufacturing facility, where many past violations have been found. According to a DigiTimes report, the age requirements for recruitment have been raised from 18-40 to 23-40.

    The report cites two possible reasons for the shift in policy. One is that the move brings the company’s hiring in-line with local government labor policies. The other is that the shift could be part of Foxconn’s plan to move toward greater automation in its manufacturing.

    (via DigiTimes)

  • Foxconn Could Become Mobile Provider in Taiwan

    Foxconn Technology Group, the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone and iPad products, is looking to take its business beyond manufacturing. In addition to media and software investments, the company could soon become a mobile carrier in China.

    The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Foxconn has applied for a 4G LTE mobile spectrum license in Taiwan. If the company qualifies, it will bid against other qualified companies in a September spectrum auction. According to the Journal, Taiwan’s current mobile carriers only provide 3G data at this time.

    Foxconn’s moves into software and wireless come as PC hardware sales have begun to slow. In addition to its lucrative iPhone and iPad manufacturing deals, Foxconn also manufactures PCs and electronics for companies such as Microsoft, Sony, Nokia, Dell, HP, and Amazon.

    According to the Wall Street Journal, Foxconn’s earnings growth has also slowed due to rising employment costs in mainland China. Pressure on Apple and other electronics companies has resulted in audits that have forced Foxconn to improve working conditions in its factories. Factory workers themselves have also taken matters into their own hands, rioting and striking for better conditions, hours, and training.

    The mobile market in China, and Taiwan in particular, is growing rapidly. China is expected to overtake the U.S. and the top global smartphone market in 2013.

    (via Wall Street Journal)

  • Mozilla, Foxconn Team Up On Firefox OS Tablet [Report]

    Foxconn is best known as the manufacturer of the iPhone, iPad and other Apple devices that begin with a lowercase “i.” The massive manufacturer may be diversifying its portfolio this year, however, with mobile devices that run Mozilla’s new Firefox OS.

    Reuters is reporting that Foxconn and Mozilla are planning to unveil a Firefox OS-based mobile device On June 3. The interesting bit about this new report is that Foxconn isn’t working on a phone, but rather a tablet. This would be the first time that Mozilla has shown how its Firefox OS would adapt to tablet computing as the non-profit has only shown Firefox OS running on smartphones thus far.

    The question now is – why go with Foxconn? It seems that Foxconn and Mozilla are hoping the relationship is mutually beneficial as Mozilla can sell more cheap devices in emerging markets while Foxconn can diversify its lineup. In regards to the latter, it seems that Foxconn is trying out new avenues of income after finding that unit orders from Apple for iPhone and iPad devices have been slowing down in recent months.

    The current report makes it seem like the Firefox OS tablets will be marketed and sold by Mozilla. So far, Mozilla has opted to partner with carriers and third-party manufacturers for its Firefox OS smartphones. It will be interesting to see if it decides to go the Google route and sell its own Firefox-branded devices in the future.

    It remains to be seen if Firefox OS will really take off, but the hardware is projected to appeal to emerging markets thanks to its inexpensiveness. Unfortunately for Mozilla, Google’s Android has also been encroaching on that turf for quite some time, and Apple may be offering a cheap iPhone alternative in the future as well.

    Mozilla’s advantage in low price may not much of advantage when Firefox OS finally launches to consumers later this year so it had better have a rock-solid OS that people will want to use over Android and iOS.

  • Apple TV May Come In Sizes Ranging From 46 To 55 Inches [Rumor]

    The Apple TV is already a thing, but people are still holding out for an actual television from the hardware giant. Rumors of an Apple HDTV have been around for years, but 2012 saw a decided jump in reports and rumors. Now at the end of the year, it’s looking more and more like Apple really is making some televisions.

    A report out of Focus Taiwan says that Foxconn is now testing several hardware designs for an Apple TV. The rumor states that Apple’s current TVs are being tested with displays ranging from 46 inches to 55 inches. The LCD panels for the televisions would come from either Japanese or Taiwanese companies.

    That being said, the rumors point to Sharp being the LCD panel supplier for Apple’s first real dive into the television market. The reasoning is that Foxconn’s chairman Terry Gou holds a stake in Sharp. Even then, the report states that it’s not yet known who exactly is providing the LCD panels.

    So, when can we expect to see an Apple TV unveiled or even mentioned? The report points to CES as a likely option, but Apple has traditionally avoided the trade show. The company usually opts to host its own events, but an Apple TV would most likely destroy the competition if it were to be shown at the largest consumer electronics trade show in the world.

    As for when the devices will actually be made available, the report says it’s “unlikely” for shipments to “begin as soon as the end of the year.” If true, we probably won’t see an Apple TV until 2014.

    It should be noted that all of this is just a rumor at this point. None of it has been confirmed and Apple has been famously tight lipped over the potential existence of an Apple TV. It’s looking like we won’t know for sure until next year, and even then, I wouldn’t expect it to be announced at CES. Apple always holds an event early in the year, however, and an Apple TV could be on the menu.

    [h/t: AppleInsider]

  • Amazon Smartphone to Launch in 2013 (Rumor)

    Back in July there were hushed rumors that Amazon would enter the smartphone market with a device that would compliment its existing Kindle tablet lineup. Today it appears that those rumors have been corroborated and the “Kindle Phone” may be coming as soon as next summer.

    The China Economic News Service, a Taiwanese business publication issued a report stating that Foxconn, the famed manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone devices, has created a new smartphone for Amazon. The device is reportedly set to be launched between the second and third quarters of 2013. The manufacturer is “expected to ship as many as five million units” of the smartphone. The handset is also expected to be “budget-priced,” with a unit price of $100 to $200.

    With the success of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet line-up this holiday season, the leap to a phone-sized device isn’t a large one. Based on Amazon’s tablet strategy, it’s likely that the smartphone will run a heavily-modified Android operating system similar to the Kindle Fire HD. The Kindle Fire OS focuses heavily on Amazon’s products and subscription service, Amazon Prime.

    The smartphone market is already so dominated by Android and iPhone devices that platforms such as RIM and Windows Phone 8 hold only marginal shares of the market. It will be interesting to see if Amazon can put out a true competitor device that is low-priced and lures customers who are already heavily invested in Amazon’s digital media ecosystem.

    (via BGR)

  • Foxconn Is Bringing Manufacturing Plants To The US [Report]

    Foxconn Is Bringing Manufacturing Plants To The US [Report]

    A big sticking point during the presidential debates this year was the loss of jobs to overseas companies. Both candidates pointed fingers at China, a country that has taken on much of the world’s manufacturing. Now one of China’s most infamous companies, Foxconn, may be bringing some jobs back to the US.

    A report from Digitimes says that Foxconn is in the planning stages to bring manufacturing plants to the US. The report mentions that Los Angeles and Detroit are prime candidates for these new plants. Unfortunately, the plants wouldn’t bring much in the way of new jobs to American workers though. It’s said that Foxconn would focus on LCD TV production which is highly automated.

    Interestingly enough, Foxconn is also starting up a training program for US-based engineers. Foxconn chairman Terry Gou said at a recent public event that his company would invite engineers to Taiwan and China for hands-on training in product design. The engineers would also get a chance to learn the Chinese language while they’re at it.

    Gou also said that his company is currently in talks with the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in regards to the program. It sounds like one heck of an internship, and I’m sure many students at MIT would jump at the chance to learn more about design and a new language.

    Of course, all of this depends on approval from the US government. Distrust of China is at an all-time high in Congress with lawmakers investigating Chinese companies’ ties to the Chinese government. Foxconn isn’t included in the investigation just yet, but it will have to overcome some initial scrutiny if it intends to move to the US.

  • Foxconn Confirms it Hired Underage Workers

    Foxconn Confirms it Hired Underage Workers

    Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturing company famous for building Apple products such as the iPhone 5, today admitted that some of the workers at its facilities were under China’s minimum working age of 16.

    The company told CNET in an email statement that it had performed an internal investigation and found some workers at its Yantai facility in Shandong Province were ages 14 to 16. From the CNET report:

    “This is not only a violation of China’s labor law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions,” the company said in an e-mailed statement to CNET. “We are also carrying out a full investigation, in cooperation with the respective educational institutions, to determine how this happened and the actions that must be taken by our company to ensure that it can never happen again.”

    This admission was a reaction to a China Labor Watch report released this week showing that it had found “a small number of student interns employed in the summer were between 14 ro 16 years old.” China Labor Watch claims that though the interns were sent by schools, Foxconn did not check their IDs.

    Foxconn’s admission highlights the fact that the company is not actively seeking to recruit children to work in its factories. The economic conditions in China’s rural areas are such that underage workers are actively seeking employment before they are allowed to work. Schools, such as the ones mentioned, often smuggle in underage workers using false identification. The real issue is whether Foxconn is being diligent enough in turning away underage workers.

    As the manufacturer behind the largest company in history, Foxconn is under increased scrutiny from labor organizations. In the past the company has dealt with a multitude of suicides at its facilities. More recently, riots and strikes by production workers have lead the headlines for Foxconn.

    (via CNET)

  • iPhone 5 Production Leads To Strike At Foxconn

    Last month, a riot broke out at Foxconn’s Tiayuan facility over the alleged beating of a worker. The riot ended with 40 injuries and several arrests. At a different factory, the workers have went on strike to protest the unfair working conditions put on them by Foxconn and Apple.

    According to China Labor Watch, up to four thousand workers at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory have gone on strike. The workers are protesting the “overly strict demands on product quality without worker training” that has led to fights between general workers and the quality control team. Even worse, supervisors ignored the complaints from both workers and quality control.

    The catalyst for the strike appears to be the strict new quality guidelines that Apple has put into place. The company now expects workers to turn out devices with indentations of 0.2mm and that not a single scratch be present on frames and back covers. The workers were already having a tough time meeting Apple’s demands, but they soon found that they would not receive a vacation during the holiday.

    The quality control workers have gone on strike to protest the harsh treatment they have received from workers. A fight broke out between the workers and the quality control team that led to injuries and some hospitalizations. Their strike has prevented the general workers from being able to contine with assembly, and multiple production lines have been stopped as a result.

    The iPhone 5 is a truly marvelous device. That being said, people must remember the actual human effort that went into making the device. The consumer may appreciate Apple’s high standards, but those same high standards are causing undue stress on the Chinese workers that assemble and inspect the devices.

    Apple has repeatedly said that they are committed to improving the working conditions at Foxconn’s factories, but it’s looking like their efforts aren’t doing much to stem the tide of riots and protests.

  • The Next iPhone May Be Made By Robots

    The Next iPhone May Be Made By Robots

    Human workers are awful. All they do is write scathing undercover reports on working conditions and instigate riots at the factory. What’s a company like Foxconn to do?

    A report from the 21st Century Business Herald says that Foxconn may be ramping up its process of replacing human workers with robots. The company reportedly had 10,000 robots last year and is hoping to have 300,000 robots working in its factories this year. All of this is leading to the company’s ultimate plan to have 1 million robots working by 2014.

    The process of replacing human workers with robots is reportedly taking longer than expected though. The company hasn’t yet reached the 300,000 mark this year, and the report says that they’ve only been able to reach one-tenth of that amount so far. The robots that have been introduced to the assembly line are being used for simple processes in iPhone and iPad production. More complicated jobs still require the dexterity of human hands.

    The switch to robot labor has come at a time when Foxconn has been forced to start paying its workers more. Due to FLA audits and riots, Foxconn has agreed to raise the wages of its human workers. With robot workers, Foxconn would not only save money on wages, as the company could save even more money on not having to pay for food, housing or other amenities.

    It’s tough to say if Foxconn will be able to replace 1 million workers with robots in two years. It’s unlikely, but it could have a devastating effect on the economy if it comes to pass. Foxconn already employs a little over a million workers in mainland China. Many people are actually moving away from the country to the cities to work at these factories. Replacing them could increase the number of poor and homeless in China’s urban centers.

    Besides, Foxconn is missing the major point here. What if the robots start a riot? Tear gas and nightsticks won’t work on them. They might even enlist their noodle slicing brethren to start stabbing everything in sight.

    [h/t: The Next Web]

  • Apple Develops iShiv for Rioting Foxconn Workers

    As you may have heard, a large riot rocked Foxconn’s Taiyuan plant in Northern China earlier this week. According to reports, the riot involved 2,000 people and took place near the worker’s dormitories. When it was all said and done, the riot resulted in a few dozen injuries and multiple arrests.

    According to social media posts, the riots began, in part, when security guards attacked a worker. This isn’t the first time that a Foxconn plant has hosted a riot, as one in Chengdu earlier this year involved a similar set of circumstances.

    Of course, Foxconn is well known as the makers of Apple products, including the iPhone 5. It only makes sense that Apple would feel responsible and want to help the rioting workers who shoulder their outsourced burden.

    Team Coco imagines the device Apple would make in this situation, and it’s pretty hilarious. Check out the (obviously comedic) bit below:

  • Foxconn Riot Ends With Injuries and Arrests

    Workers at Foxconn’s Tiayuan plant in Northern China rioted Sunday evening, injuring 40 people and resulting in several arrests.

    The riot was made up of about 2,000 people and took place outside of the workers’ dormitories. The cause of the riot is not certain, though The Next Web reports that Baidu posts claim the violence started when security guards began hitting a worker.

    It is also unclear how much damage was done to the facility. The Next Web states that the Tiayuan facility is the same one infiltrated by an undercover journalist earlier this month to document the working conditions. That reporter worked on assembling parts for the iPhone 5 during his time there, meaning these riots could conceivably delay the shipment of more iPhone 5s.

    This isn’t the first time Foxconn has seen a riot at one of its city-sized plants. In June of this year workers at Foxconn’s Chengdu plant rioted after workers accosted security guards in the worker dorms.

    Foxconn is a Chinese manufacturer that is well-known for manufacturing Apple’s iPhones and iPhone parts. The company in the past has been criticized for its working conditions and for the multiple suicides committed by its workers. Foxconn has recently committed to cutting workers’ long hours and improving safety in their facilities.

    Below is a video taken during the event, though the hectic nature of the footage and poor lighting make it nearly impossible to see what is happening. The second video appears to have been taken after the riot, and shows a bit of the aftermath, including the large police presence.

  • Chinese Journalist Goes Undercover To Find Out How The iPhone 5 Is Made

    The Shanghai Evening Post deserves all kinds of journalistic awards after their latest undertaking. The newspaper sent one of their journalists to pose as a new employee at Foxconn. His job was to see what the conditions at Foxconn were like while they were manufacturing the iPhone 5. His report is equally fascinating and terrifying.

    The original report is obviously in Chinese, but MIC Gadget was nice enough to translate the entire thing. The timing couldn’t have been better either as Apple is preparing to debut the iPhone 5 to the entire world this morning. It’s not going to shame Apple into pulling out of Foxconn, but it may make them double their efforts with the FLA.

    The journalist’s report begins with the hiring process and a description of the dorms. Needless to say, it’s not pretty. It’s not entirely unexpected either. Things don’t get really interesting until he starts to describe the manufacturing process for the iPhone 5. What follows is a company that overworks and underpays its employees while telling them that it’s an honor to manufacture the iPhone 5.

    The job assigned to the journalist was to mark placement points on the iPhone 5 backplate with an oil-based pen. He said that the job requires a person to pick up a backplate, mark four spots on it and put it back on the belt within three seconds. A worker doing the same job as him tried to take a break, but was caught by the supervisor. His punishment was to stand in a corner for 10 minutes.

    The major complaint from most workers’ rights groups is that Foxconn forces its workers to put in too many hours. The amount of overtime required by electronics manufacturers has led to the death of more than one man as exhaustion kicks in rather quickly. The journalist confirmed this to be case after saying that his shift was supposed to end at 5 a.m., but they were kept until 7 a.m. He said that work doesn’t stop until the production line belt stops.

    This is all just a small taste of what really goes on at Foxconn. The journalist was only able to work one job so he didn’t get to see the more dangerous or labor intensive jobs. It already seems bad enough as it is.

    Foxconn’s chairman got into trouble early this year when he compared the workers to animals. That philosophy seems to have carried through to the supervisors especially when one said, “You might feel uncomfortable of how we treat you, but this is all for your own good.” Working long hours in brutal working conditions for a measly $4 in overtime doesn’t seem like it’s for anybody’s good.

    I’m sure that the Shanghai Evening Post wanted to kickstart the anti-Apple campaign on the eve of the iPhone 5 announcement, but it’s probably not going to have much of an effect. I don’t think anybody would ask you to refrain from buying an iPhone, but it would be nice if consumers would actually think for a moment on how much goes into making the electronics they take for granted.

  • iPhone 5 Rumor: LCD Panel Manufacturing Delays

    Though the mandatory daily iPhone 5 rumor has already produced some nice pics of a fully-assembled iPhone 5 sitting next to an iPhone 4, there is also some less-exciting news surrounding Apple’s new smartphone.

    The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sharp is having trouble manufacturing the LCD panels for the iPhone 5, and hasn’t begun mass producing them. The WSJ quotes a “person with knowledge of the situation” as saying Sharp had plans to ship the panels by the end of August, but was delayed by “manufacturing difficulties.”

    Apple manufacturer Foxconn earlier this year invested billions in Sharp, which was struggling to stay afloat. Rumors stated that Sharp would be manufacturing the LCD displays for the upcoming Apple HDTV. Foxconn will be hoping that these manufacturing issues are resolved quickly, and that Sharp doesn’t face similar difficulties in the future, further delaying the Apple HDTV.

    Luckily, Apple hasn’t put all its eggs into one basket. Japan Display and LG Display also manufacture the LCD panels for the iPhone 5. So, while the Sharp delays might mean a slight supply crunch on launch day, it is unlikely at this point that Apple will delay the impending launch of its flagship device on September 21. It is expected that Apple will sell an unbelievable 250 million iPhone 5 devices.

    Some Apple fans might not be able to get their hands on the iPhone 5 as soon as they would like, but that’s sure to create a burgeoning second-hand market for the smartphone on eBay. Oh, well. At least customers in China can already get a cheap knockoff of the smartphone.

  • Foxconn Changes Its Working Conditions In Response To Audits

    Foxconn changes are coming. The largest electronics manufacturer in the world had the eye of the world on it after numerous employees committed suicide while others died of being overworked. Apple partnered with the Fair Labor Association to help improve working conditions at the factories where the iPhone and iPad are built. The FLA suggested improvements are now being implemented.

    Bloomberg reports that Foxconn has cut working hours and improved safety. The changes are part of a larger 15-month plan that will see working conditions improve at Foxconn facilities. The FLA is overseeing the changes and making sure that everything matches up with Chinese labor regulations.

    At the FLA’s suggestion, Foxconn will be cutting working hours to 49 a week. They will also raise wages and give employees more say within the company. The changes are expected to come into effect by July 2013. The FLA says that Foxconn is ahead of schedule in implementing the changes so Chinese workers may be getting more perks before the end of the year.

    The changes are welcome, but it seems that conditions at Foxconn may not have improved all that much. China Labor Watch told Bloomberg that Foxconn employees are still required to complete the same amount of work even after the hours had been reduced. Unfortunately, employees have to work much harder to meet their quota which can result in mistakes due to low satisfaction among employees.

    One good thing that may come out of all of this is a desire to improve working conditions all across Asia. It took the Foxconn suicides to show people that working conditions aren’t all that great across China and Southeast Asia, but there are worse working conditions at lesser known manufacturers. Maybe the attention will now shift to other manufacturers in worse off countries like Malaysia or Indonesia.

  • iPad Mini To Be Made In Brazil, Launch In September?

    Rumors about Apple’s iPad Mini have been coming fast and furious lately. Last week we told you about rumors that the iPad Mini was preparing to go into mass production and was targeted for an autumn launch. Now it looks like those rumors have received some corroboration.

    According to a recent report from MacOkatara (Google Translation), Apple’s latest gadget is in fact heading for mass production. What’s more, it will be built by Foxconn at their factory in Brazil. The facility already produces iPhones and some models of iPad. The report also claims that the iPad Mini will launch in September, rather than October as usually suggested.

    Of course, this is all still rumor. Though several generally reliable sources have reported that Apple has an iPad Mini in the works over the last few months, the more specific details have tended to have a somewhat more dubious pedigree. In other words, it’s looking like an iPad Mini is coming, and probably sometime this year, but don’t start throwing money into the betting pool on anything more specific just yet.

  • Apple TV LCDs Headed To Foxconn Next Quarter?

    Production of Apple’s long-rumored HDTV could begin as early as next quarter, according to recent reports. The television’s LCD displays are rumored to be headed to Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn from Sharp sometime during the third quarter of this year, with a release date scheduled for sometime in the fourth quarter (just in time for the 2012 holiday shopping season, naturally).

    The information comes from a Chinese news site via Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White. It seems that the news site – 21cbh.com – spoke with several sources at Sharp, all of whom claimed that the company’s LCD panels have been ordered and will be shipped to Foxconn next quarter.

    The idea that Sharp could be the supplier of LCD panels for the Apple TV (or iTV, as it’s occasionally called), has been around for a few months now. Back in March we brought you news that Foxconn’s parent company, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., had purchased a 10% stake in Sharp, a move that would allow Sharp to offset billions of dollars in potential losses next quarter.

    Of course, Apple’s largest manufacturing partner buying a stake in a display company set off rumors about the Apple TV. Those rumors were bolstered earlier this week by news that Hon Hai may be preparing to make yet another investment in Sharp.

    There have been rumors of Apple diving into the television market with its own HDTV for several years now. Over the last 8 months or so, though, those rumors have been growing consistently more intense and, on the whole, more credible, due in part to statements in Steve Jobs’s biography that an Apple television was among Jobs’s last projects with Apple, and Job’s claim that just before he left Apple he finally “cracked it.”

    The majority of the rumors about the Apple TV have suggested a release sometime in the late third or early fourth quarter of this year, which White’s information supports. If so, it looks like some of us will have to make some room on our Christmas lists this year.

  • Foxconn Head Slams Samsung In Slightly Racist Rant

    If you’ve got a pair of eyes and half a brain cell and have been paying attention to the tech world for the past couple of years, you know that Samsung and Apple aren’t exactly the best of buddies when it comes to the smartphone market. Despite being great friends on the supply side (Apple is Samsung’s biggest components customer), the two companies pretty much hate each other on the consumer end. Apple, for its part, believes that Samsung is in the habit of ripping off Apple’s designs. Samsung, meanwhile, thinks people who buy Apple products are sheep.

    Apparently, though, the rivalry doesn’t stop with Apple and Samsung. During a recent shareholders meeting Terry Gou, chairman of Hon Hai, parent company of Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn, vented at length about Samsung. Gou apparently still carries a grudge from 2010, when Samsung “snitched” on four flat panel manufacturers in Taiwan during a European Commission investigation into price fixing. Samsung escaped the €433.92 million ($551 million) fine levied against the other companies in exchange for their cooperation.

    According to Focus Taiwan Gou, who owns a personal stake in Sharp in addition to Hon Hai’s significant investment, praised Japan-based Sharp at the expense of Korea-based Samsung. “I respect the Japanese and especially their execution and communication styles,” he told shareholders. “Unlike the Koreans, they will not hit you from behind.”

    Backing off a bit on the sweeping racial generalizations, Gou also praised the iPhone, which Foxconn manufactures. He suggested that consumers wait to buy Samsung’s new Galaxy S III until after they’ve seen the new iPhone, which will put the Galaxy S III to shame.

    The Galaxy S III is due out in the U.S. sometime in the next week or so (depending on your carrier), while the new iPhone is coming out sometime in the fall, probably October.

  • Foxconn Investing In Sharp Again, Stoking iTV Rumors

    Back in March we brought you news that Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry had made a $1.6 billion investment in Sharp in an effort to save the struggling company from potentially massive quarterly losses. The deal also prompted speculation about Apple’s rumored iTV. Hon Hai is the parent company of Foxconn, one of Apple’s primary manufacturing partners, and an investment in Sharp was seen as an easy way to get the company’s LCD displays into Apple’s rumored HDTV.

    Those rumors have gained new life today on news that Hon Hai is preparing to make another major investment in Sharp. According to a report by Reuters, Hon Hai and Sharp are currently negotiating a deal whereby Hon Hai will purchase even more of Sharp’s shares. In the past week Sharp’s stock has taken a significant dip, prompting the company to approach Hon Hai again.

    It is, of course, entirely possible that these investments have nothing at all to do with Apple’s HDTV (usually dubbed either the iTV or the Apple TV). After all, not everything about Foxconn is also Apple related. On the other hand, Foxconn is Apple’s main manufacturer for iOS devices, and these deals do provide a shortcut between Sharp and Apple, should Apple decide to use Sharp’s LCD displays in the iTV.

  • Foxconn Worker Suicide Raises Questions

    Just a week after a riot broke out at Foxconn’s Chengdu plant over unknown labor issues, a worker at the same plant has leapt to his death from the roof of a company apartment building. To complicate the situation, there are also reports that Chinese authorities may be taking steps to cover up the incident.

    According to a report this morning from Reuters, the worker was 23 years old. His suicide is the first at the company since Apple and Foxconn announced efforts to improve working conditions at the manufacturing company’s plants back in May.

    Foxconn Worker Suicide

    It is not known why the young worker – apparently named Xie – committed suicide, but a report from MIC Gadget says that Chinese authorities may have taken steps to hush the incident up. According to the report, authorities pressured eyewitness to delete any photos or videos they had taken of Xie’s death. Despite the pressure, however, some images leaked out via Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like micro-blogging social network. In the image above, you can see the young man at the top of the building, clearly outlined against the sky. The second image, below, appears to capture him in the same position, but is more difficult to make out. If you look closely, you can see his legs dangling over the edge of the roof.

    Foxconn Worker Suicide

    Again, the reasons for the young man’s suicide are not known. While it is possible that the incident is connected to last week’s riot or to working conditions inside Foxconn, nothing is certain at this point.

  • Foxconn Factory Riot Leads To Multiple Arrests

    A riot at Foxconn’s Chengdu plant in Sichuan, China earlier this week led to dozens of arrests, according to Chinese news sources. The exact cause of the riot is unknown, but there appear to have been several hundred workers involved.

    According to Taiwan’s Want China Times, security guards attempted to stop a suspected thief in one of the men’s dormitories on the plant’s campus. Some workers who had grievances against the plant’s security staff stepped in to hinder the guards. The scuffle quickly turned into a full-blown riot. As many as a thousand workers got in on the action, causing significant amounts of damage to the facilities. Foxconn officials quickly called police, though it took about two hours to settle things back down. Dozens of workers were arrested.

    Foxconn is a major electronics manufacturer, and is best known for contracting with Apple to assemble a variety of their most popular products, including the iPhone and iPad. The company has been in the news several times this year over allegations of low wages and poor working conditions, though Apple and Foxconn appear to be taking steps to improve the situation.