Apple extends wait time in China for popular iPhone 14 models up to January

China accounted for 15 per cent of all iPhone shipments worldwide, the report said.

Yuri Gu, a financial professional living in southern Guangdong province, said she has been checking the delivery status every day since placing an order for an iPhone 14 Pro on November 2, while searching various social media platforms for updates on other consumers’ order delivery status.

While she thought about cancelling her order on Apple’s online store and placing a new one on local e-commerce platforms, Gu said she found the same delay persists across all online retail channels.

Although her order showed shipping dates from November 25 to December 2, Gu said she thought it could ship earlier than the promised dates.

“Based on my previous experience with new iPhones, products are usually delivered ahead of schedule,” she said. “But the chances are looking slim this year, based on what I saw on social media. It’s very frustrating.”

Some mainland consumers are sharing their iPhone order status updates to provide a reference for those waiting on their own orders.

“I bought it on November 6. When can it ship?” asked one user on Chinese microblogging service Weibo. “Do let me know when your order is delivered. My order was placed a day after you,” one of the replies said.

That led Apple on November 6 to warn about delays in iPhones shipments. “The facility [at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou facility] is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity … we now expect lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments than we previously anticipated,” the company said in a statement.

Taiwan-based Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant needs 100,000 workers to resume full production capacity, according to a report last week by China Newsweek, a state-backed magazine. At its peak, the facility employs up to 300,000 assembly line workers.