To ramp up iPhone production at Foxconn factories, the manufacturer closed a deal to start using more humanoid robots. With the process of making iPhones becoming more complicated, these robots could help improve the reliability of processes involving the most delicate parts.
According to the South China Morning Post, UBTech and Foxconn signed a “comprehensive long-term partnership” to deploy more robots in the iPhone maker’s factories. The company’s chief brand officer, Michael Tam, said the robots are being trained to handle different tasks required for modern-day manufacturing.
“For car manufacturing, there [are] thousands of tasks on our list,” he said. “In areas like 3C production (computers, communication, and consumer electronics), [there are] totally new skills for humanoid robots to learn.”
UBTech recently released its Walker S1 humanoid robot. It has completed two months of training for logistics operations at Foxconn’s Shenzhen’s Longhua district factories. Soon, it’s expected to go to the company’s car factory in Zhengzhou city.
While the company wants to release an S2 version of its humanoid robot later this year, it’s unclear when Foxconn could use these bots to make iPhones.
Over the past few years, Apple has tried to diversify its supply chain to avoid the same manufacturing issues it faced in 2022 with the launch of the iPhone 14. At the time, there was a growth in COVID-19 cases in Foxconn’s main iPhone factory, followed by riots among its workers. After that, Apple diversified its supply chain to India and other Asian countries.
In 2025, Foxconn’s factories in the region are expected to produce the regular iPhone 17 models simultaneously with China. In previous years, Indian factories produced the latest iPhone models a few weeks after Apple started selling them worldwide.
That said, humanoid robots can be an interesting addition to Foxconn’s supply chain. BGR will let you know once we learn more about that.
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