A new video has surfaced that gives us an extremely rare look at the iPhone assembly line within a Foxconn factory. Seeing one of these lines in action is a very rare occurrence as Apple is well known for keeping its production processes and products secret. The video is shot in Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant where over seventy percent of Apple’s iPhones are now made.

The video which is provided by iFeng, shows a Chinese reporter with Foxconn CEO Terry Gou taking a tour around the extensive factory. The tour starts in a helicopter to give an idea on the sheer size of this huge factory. It covers 5.6 square kilometers (2.2 Square miles) with more expansion planned and employs around 115,000 workers.

The factory part of the tour starts off in the iPhone 4S production line where you can see the iPhone 4S frame and motherboard. The motherboard line is 148 meters long and rolls out 10,000 units a day. The tour continues into the camera assembly area which is all done in a clean room environment.

You can watch the video below, the dialogue is all in Chinese and we don't have a translation yet.

Source: TNW via MIC Gadget

If you want to see how an iPad is assembled at a Foxconn factory, a new video reveals some of the processes involved. The video shows an iPad assembly line and focuses on the installation of the motherboard into the iPad casing, the installation of the battery, a visual inspection of the rear panel for scratches, the fitment of the LCD panel and then tests of the gyroscope and the display. The iPad is then packaged and ready for despatch.

The video is part of a series of reports by Rob Schmitz; who is only the second ever reporter given permission to access the factory floor at Apple’s iPad assembly line.

Source: Marketplace via TNW

Nightline is going to be airing their big exposé on Foxconn tomorrow night, but the write-up of their visit to Foxconn is now available. Although Nightline reports that there are nets just about everywhere to catch anyone trying to commit suicide, depression is apparently not that common. The counseling center is sparsely used (most of the workers were simply tired from their 10-to-12-hour shifts), and despite the high profile of the suicides within recent memory, 18 attempts over the last couple of years actually isn't that many considering the Foxconn employs and houses a veritable city of over 230,000 within Shenzhen. A counselor at Foxconn explained why some of the suicides happened.

"There are many reasons. We had many scholars here doing research. Of course some (suicide) has to do with the management. But they had more to do with the new generation of migrant workers from the rural areas, their state of mind and how they cope with society. Also it's hard to make friends here."

"I expect them to put on a show for us. That's normal with every factory you go to, even if it's just the time that it takes you to get from the gate to the factory floor, there's always fifteen or twenty minutes of protocol to get in there. The special equipment comes out, they put the ear plugs in, they put the masks on, and they can transform a factory in twenty minutes, so we expect that."

This tour is a particularly big deal because Apple has traditionally never allowed press inside the factories where iPhone, iPads, and other Apple products are assembled, but an ongoing rash of bad press related to Foxconn has prompted  them to open up the doors, at least a little bit. Apple has got to be applauded for the unprecedented amount of effort they're putting into improving working conditions throughout their entire supply chain. One can only hope that other manufacturers start doing the same before the world starts to learn that it's not only iPhone factories that are harsh working environments.

Source: ABC

Foxconn is planning to double the size of their iPhone factory in China at a cost of $1.1 billion dollars, according to Chinese news site China Daily.

The base will be centered on the Foxconn Science Park in Zhengzhou, provincial capital of Henan, increasing its current production lines to 95, said the Henan provincial development and reform commission during a conference. The expansion plan, costing 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion), is expected to bring $20 billion in sales revenue in 2012, the commission said.

Foxconn is Apple's largest contractor and this new plant will be employing around 130,000 workers who will subsequently be able to pump out around 200,000 iPhones per day. That's around 18 million iPhones per quarter.

Add in other contractors, and consider that Apple has the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S currently available in the retail market, and it gives us a hint at Apple's own estimates on the amount of iPhone sales we'll be seeing throughout 2012.

Approaching 100 million.

Source: China Daily

Pop quiz: Moms gets home, busts out her shiny new iPhone 3G, sets it up, makes ready to snazzify it another notch with some custom art, and -- Boom! -- she finds three snapshots lurking in the Camera App. Two are blurry. One's golden: A spy shot dead in the heart of the iPhone factory.

What do you do?

Post them on the intertubes, of course! (And thanks for that!)

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