Apple admits student interns worked illegal hours on iPhone X production line

Apple has admitted that high school students interning at a Taiwan supplier exceeded legal working hours while working on the iPhone X production line.

The tech giant was responding to a report published by the Financial Times looking into high school students and their work experience.

The Financial Times reported that six high school children claimed to have worked 11-hour days assembling the iPhone X at a factory in Zhengzhou China.

The six workers were among 3,000 students who were sent from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School to work at a local facility run by a Taiwan-based Apple supplier, Hon Hai Precision Industry, which is better known as Foxconn.

The students said they were told by their school that they must complete three months of work experience in order to graduate.

One 18 year-old student called Ms Wang told the FT: “We are being forced by our school to work here.”

She declined to use her first name for fear of punishment.

She continued: “The work has nothing to do with our studies.”

While Apple said that the students worked more hours than they were legally supposed to, it claimed that students were not forced to carry out the work as a condition of graduation from school.

In response to the claims, a spokesman for Apple said: "We’ve confirmed the students worked voluntarily, were compensated and provided benefits, but they should not have been allowed to work overtime."

The company said that an audit revealed that the students had been working over the illegal amount of hours which is 40 per week in China.

The spokesman said: "When we found that some students were allowed to work overtime, we took prompt action. A team of specialists are on site at the facility working with the management on systems to ensure the appropriate standards are adhered to.”

They continued: "Apple is dedicated to ensuring everyone in our supply chain is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. We know our work is never done and we’ll continue to do all we can to make a positive impact and protect workers in our supply chain.”