Overview

• China Labor Watch alleges workers at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou complex logged roughly 60–75 hours a week during the March–September iPhone 17 ramp, above Chinese law and Apple’s 60-hour cap.
• Temporary ‘dispatch’ hires made up over half the workforce, which the group says is about five times China’s 10% legal limit, with peak staffing estimated at 150,000–200,000.
• CLW reports wage withholding that cost resigning temps weeks of overtime pay, coercion of student workers into night shifts, and discriminatory hiring that excluded several ethnic groups.
• The investigation cites unsafe chemical exposure without proper gear, verbal and sexual harassment, and intimidation of complainants, while noting no underage workers were found in 2025 versus cases in 2019.
• Apple says teams are on site and conducting an immediate investigation, Foxconn rejects the allegations and invites constructive dialogue, and CLW questions clean audit claims such as those attributed to the Responsible Business Alliance.