Foxconn’s Indian operation began assembling iPhones for Apple outside of China for the first time in 2021.
Apple is sending independent auditors to investigate an iPhone assembly facility in India, after poor working and living conditions at the plant prompted workers to go on strike.
The facility in southern India is operated by longtime Apple partner Foxconn. An investigation by Reuters found that women working at the plant were laboring in extremely difficult conditions, forced to sleep on the floor in crowded dorms and sharing toilets without running water. Recently, an outbreak of food poisoning left 150 individuals hospitalized, prompting workers to strike and shut down the plant on December 18th.
In response, Apple says it’s put the plant on “probation” (though the company hasn’t said what this means for Foxconn or the workers who…