Life in the "iPhone City" 📱

feri1 (64)in #technology • 6 years ago

If you are using an iPhone, there is a high probability that it has been manufactured at the factory complex in Zhengzhou, China. There are 9.5 million people living in the city.

The factory, run by the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn, employs 350,000 people who produce about half of all iPhones in the world. In the most shocking summer months before the release of the new iPhone in September, the factory produces about 500,000 iPhones a day, 350 iPhones per minute.

Foxconn has 12 such factories in China

The size of the workforce, which is comparable to many of the US cities, led to the fact that the people called the factory complex as "iPhone City". Workers live in homes, 10 to 12 floors or high-rise buildings outside Foxconn's doors, while the workforce migrating every day presents a population who makes money by cooking street food, offering massages, or selling socks and other products.

What does it look to live and work in the "iPhone City"?

Business Insider journalists have recently spent their days in the city of "iPhone City".

With 1.3 million employees in China, Foxconn is the largest private employer in the country. Since the launch of Apple's iPhone in 2007, Foxconn has been accused of numerous abuses of workers rights, poor working conditions and hard penalties for employees mistakes. In 2010 and 2011, Foxconn has captured a wave of suicide in China, which has led Apple and Foxconn to make urgent changes.

Ten years ago this area was completely empty, only the fields of corn and wheat. In 2010, the government bought land from local farmers, and factories were built in only 1 year. There are many trees planted around the city, cops and security guards are on each corner, and workers are hidden in the shade before the sun.

Zhengzhou Science Park was built almost exclusively for the Apple iPhone production - $ 600 million was contributed by the provincial government. Today, the government greatly helps Foxconn, with various tax incentives, all to keep the production in place. New roads, electricity networks, transport costs, etc. have been built.

Workers start work around 7 in the morning. Those who can afford scooters are brought with them, while most of them are walkers from nearby homes or are driven by buses if they are far away. Workers describe their day as follows:

Wake up at 6:30
the way to the factory at 7:00
breakfast and start work 8:00
the worker has one hour for lunch (most of them are in the canteen inside the campus, and some are able to afford food in nearby pubs where some former Foxconn workers or other local residents own)
work is officially closed at 17:00 (5 PM), but it is often possible to work overtime, which most work also, and this means work until 20:00 (8 PM) or 22:00 (10 PM)
after a hard working day, dinner and playing games with friends until 22:00 or 23:00, then sleeping

The timetable for practicing the night shifts is practically the same, only hours are changing

Foxconn's iPhone factory in Zhengzhou takes care of the final phase of assembly, testing and packaging of phones. This phase, after writing the Business Insider, requires about 400 steps for the iPhone to be set up. Most workers work one and the same job all day. For example, polish the screen, weld one component, or wrap one screw to the back of the phone.

One of the workers working on the iPhone display sector told The Guardian that she had 1,700 iPhones in one day, or 3 screens every 12 hours a day. Other motherboard workers pay between 600 and 700 iPhones a day. Workers describe the work as boring and very unique.

Most of the employees are between 18 and 25 years old. As for sexual distribution, this is fairly equal, and most of the employees come from Zhengzhou or a village around Henan, a province of 94 million residents.

After a 45-day probationary period, base salaries can rise to 500. Workers who are willing to take on the night shift can see their monthly salary rise to as much as 785 $, including overtime.