Editor’s Note
This article is based on a report by the non-profit organization China Labour Watch. Apple and its manufacturing partners have established supplier conduct standards, and Apple states it conducts regular audits. We have reached out to both Apple and Foxconn for comment and will update this story with any response.
Chinese factory workers suffered difficult conditions while racing to get Apple’s new iPhone 17 line-up ready, according to a report from China Labour Watch.
Staff at the Zhengzhou facility of Foxconn Technology Group, Apple’s production partner, had to contend with wage withholding, excessive overtime and forced night shifts, the non-profit organisation said on Sept 26.
The report focused on the period of March to September, when Apple and its suppliers were readying the latest iPhone.
The investigation highlighted a number of labour rights concerns and alleged that Foxconn is violating Chinese law by employing a large percentage of temporary “dispatch” workers.
In response to the report, Apple said it is “firmly committed to the highest standards of labour, human rights, environmental and ethical conduct”.
Foxconn’s Zhengzhou complex – so large that it is often described as iPhone city – employed 150,000 to 200,000 workers during the March-September time frame, according to the report.
Temporary workers accounted for more than 50 per cent of total staff – a level that is “five times the legal limit under Chinese law”, the group alleged.
Foxconn’s pay structure, which holds back a second portion of wages until the following month, left some dispatch workers without weeks’ worth of overtime pay if they resigned before a particular cut-off date, China Labour Watch said.
Excessive overtime continues to be a prevalent issue, the report alleged.
It documented the presence of Apple employees at the Zhengzhou facility and claims this suggests that the US company’s representatives “are aware of the working conditions”.
The report cited concerns about coercion of young workers with student status, alleging that they were often forced onto night shifts for low pay.
China Labour Watch claimed that there was discriminatory hiring that excluded multiple ethnicities, exposure to hazardous chemicals without adequate protective equipment, and widespread harassment and intimidation.
It added that many of these problems have worsened since its last investigation in 2019. But it acknowledged a slight improvement in some areas, such as total overtime.
In the previous report, workers tallied an average of 100 to 130 hours per month during peak season – though some still reached similar totals in 2025.
The investigation found no instances of underage workers at Foxconn’s facility after identifying “some vocational school minors” in 2019.
Though the Zhengzhou facility remains the global production hub for Apple’s smartphones, the American company has been diversifying its supply.
Earlier this year, Apple expanded iPhone production in India to fulfil the majority of US demand – an attempt to mitigate the impact of tariffs on goods exported from China.
Apple releases its own annual supply chain reports and says it collects working hours data on a weekly basis for more than 1.4 million supplier employees.
In 2024, it conducted 1,514 total audits of its global supply chain and interviewed more than 74,000 supplier employees.