Apple’s new iPhone 5 may have a great design to it, but it was immediately clear, upon brand-new handsets showing up dinged and scuffed, that the phone had some big problems with build quality. You can blame that on the delicate beveled edge, or the aluminum construction that can seem to draw attention to ever little scratch, but whatever the root cause, it was clear this was a major issue. Apparently that’s led to Apple tightening the reigns as far as quality control in its manufacturing centers go, a change that is not appreciated by workers.

Three to four thousand Foxconn workers went on strike today, with a large number turning-out from on-site quality control roles. Reportedly, they’re dissatisfied with Apple’s new demands in light of all the issues discovered with iPhone 5 hardware. Things are supposedly so bad now that it’s become near-impossible to produce hardware that meets Apple’s exacting requirements.

This puts us smartphone consumers in a difficult situation. We don’t want our new phones arriving looking like they’ve been previously used, but at the same time, no one wants to feel responsible for having expectations so high that they’re causing other people the kind of problems that we’re hearing about over in China. There’s even word of fights breaking out between assembly line workers and quality control staff.

We hope Apple either revisits its new manufacturing demands, or otherwise provides the assistance needed to see that its expectations can be realistically met; something’s got to give.

Source: China Labor Watch
Via: BGR