Foxconn has confirmed that it has had enough of its staff flinging themselves off buildings rather than make the iPhone, that it has managed to create a new robot assembly line which will automate the production process.
Terry Gou, CEO of Hon Hai (parent company of Foxconn) told the meeting that Apple would be the first company to take advantage of the new robot workers for its next product. Dubbed Foxbots, the new robot workers will make 30,000 smartphones each without complaining to any NGO that they are underage or overworked.
Gou said that the string of suicides and attempted suicides in the company’s factories between 2010 and 2012 were normal for a company with more than a million employees. Each of the robots are said to cost between $20,000-$25,000 and Gou saying that they would not be selling any of the automated machines as they didn't have enough to meet its own demand.
However the announcement is causing a problem for the Tame Apple press which is trying to claim that the iPhone 6 will be hugely complex. If it can be made by a Robot then the process has to be a lot simpler than that.
Reuters said that “considering how complex the manufacturing process of the iPhone 6 is likely to be, there will still be huge demand for human workers at Foxconn's factories.”
It pointed to an unconfirmed rumour that Foxconn had hired up to 100,000 workers in advance of iPhone 6 manufacturing as proof that the robots will not be doing much.