Foxconn is barely able to keep up with the massive iPhone 6 demand

Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus supplies may continue to be constrained as Foxconn reportedly is struggling to keep up with demand for the handsets, reports the Wall Street Journal. Unlike previous years that saw Foxconn handling the launch of one flagship handset, the manufacturer is now tasked with producing two iPhone models that are in high demand. Foxconn reportedly has hired more than 200,000 workers at its Zhengzhou site to work on Apple’s new iPhone. Even with this large labor force and daily output volumes of 140,000 iPhone 6 Plus units and 400,000 iPhone 6 units, the company is still not able to meet pre-order demand.

Apple AAPL +0.54% fans may have to wait for weeks to get the new iPhones as Apple’s major assembler Foxconn appears to be struggling to boost its production to meet strong demand. Foxconn has continued to hire more workers to assemble the two new iPhone models at its largest production site in Zhengzhou, north central China, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has more than 200,000 workers in the Zhengzhou site, dedicated to just making new iPhones and key components such as metal casings. The Taiwan-based manufacturer, which has more than one million workers in China, is operating about 100 production lines around the clock in Zhengzhou. The challenge is to manufacture two complicated new iPhones on a large scale at the same time because Foxconn is the sole assembler of the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. It also makes the majority of the iPhone 6 that comes with a 4.7-inch display, the people said. Last year, Foxconn was the sole assembler of the iPhone 5S, but it only made a small portion of the iPhone 5C as another Taiwanese contract maker Pegatron was assigned to be the major assembler for the cheaper model. Foxconn also stopped manufacturing the iPhone 5C later and shifted all resources to make the more popular iPhone 5S.