As the launch of the better and bigger iPhone dawned, so did the controversy surrounding this phone’s production in China resurface. Apple once again mesmerized the world with their offer of superior quality and seamless experiences. This inherent charm tends to keep most Apple users blissfully unaware of the tragic story behind the assembling of these beautiful devices. The lives and circumstances of the iPhone assemblers working at Foxconn’s Tai Yuan factory.

It is hard to give a firsthand account of the same, however, a journalist at the Shanghai Evening Post, worked as an assembler for a period of ten days to experience and then reveal the grueling working conditions at this factory. The reporter’s experience is best described as  horrifying. The reporter’s job was to mark parts of the phone with an oil-based pen. By the reporter’s calculations, based on the targets given, the reporter would have to mark a whopping 3000 iPhones for every 10 hours he worked.

The reporter also revealed that the shifts were six long hours and without a break. The living conditions were beyond deplorable with cockroaches crawling out of wardrobes and the bedspreads laced with gunk. These stories have been exaggerated before, however, Foxconn has also been repeatedly bashed for its defiance to providing better working conditions for its factory workers.

Therefore we leave it to each reader to make up their mind on how much to believe and how much to discard. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, claims that the company is dedicated to providing better working conditions at Chinese partner factories, how much of what is done, remains to be seen. For a detailed report please read on.

Image credit: Kynbit (Flickr – cc).