Young workers on iPhone 7 assembly line

China's young workers work on iPhone 7 assembly lines for over 10 hours a day, 10 days without rest; but, then, they couldn't afford one by themselves.

Upon hearing his fellow worker committed suicide by jumping off a high building, Wang Guoying, who was playing video games, froze in silent shock.

Foxconn, one of the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturers, has witnessed at least 20 suicides of its workers since 2010.

The latest, who jumped from a factory roof at Foxconn's Henan plant on the morning of August 18, was said to have just finished an all-night assembly shift for iPhone 7.

"I have worked overtime for 13 days," said the 19-year-old Wang (an alias). "If there wasn't this short rest break, I would also have killed myself."

The suicide, however, was quickly overshadowed by "good news" as Apple's new flagship phone hit the market earlier this month.

At the launch event of the much-anticipated iPhone 7, Apple's CEO Tim Cook announced the company had sold a billion phones, which, for Foxconn, was also a milestone because its Henan plant is estimated to have assembled over 459 million.

This means that almost one in two iPhones sold all over the world has a label "made in Henan," China's most populous province.

The painstaking labor

Apple had a bold slogan when introducing its most classic iPhone 4: "This changes everything. Again." However, workers on the assembly line like Wang never feel their repetitive task of dabbing two spots of glue on the cover of the phones will "change the world."

Repeating this same procedure everyday for 10 hours gives Wang bloodshot eyes. "My eyes hurt everyday and my sight has fallen at least 100 degrees," he murmured while recalling his "change" after three months in Foxconn.

According to Foxconn's estimate, its plant in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, has over 300,000 unskilled workers like Wang who form the broad base of the corporate pyramid.

Zhang Cai is a similar case. Whenever he sees someone holding an iPhone, he would think, "I probably made that USB outlet."

Recently, he often felt pain and stiffness in his index finger joint and fears he has tendonitis.

Before working at Foxconn, he used to be the point guard in his middle school basketball team. "To be a good shooter, all you need to do is to use force on the index finger, while other fingers are used to control the direction," he explained. "Now, guess I won't shoot well any longer."

However, bloodshot eyes and finger joint pain are barely an issue for most of the unskilled workers there.

"We are earning money at the expense of our health," said Zhang. At Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant, the monthly wage standard is the same for all unskilled workers: 1,900 yuan (US$ 284.9) for workers on probation and 2,100 yuan (US$314.9) for regular staff.

The payment might be 75 dollars higher than the minimum wage in Henan, but still barely enough for an adult to support a family.

Tired of working overtime or eager for extra work?

"Deducting social insurance and costs of food and accommodation, there is not much left," Zhang Cai complained when considering his slim take-home pay. "We can only cope through working overtime."

Working extra hours on weekdays and weekends earns pay of 1.5 times and twice the normal rate respectively; most workers are locked in a contradictory mentality of being eager for extra work while feeling rather tired.

The huge iPhone orders add to their physical pain but also provide extra salary. Foxconn says it never forces its employees to work overtime.

"No one forced us to work, but life; we need to make a living," admits Liu Wei. To get more chance for work, he even introduced his admirer to his group leader as a girlfriend.

A future

For every worker joining Foxconn, the message is: "It's your honor to assemble iPhone 7."

For the first three days, Wu Xiaobei, a worker, indeed felt such pride. "I was producing the world's most famous mobile phone!" She felt it very cool to be heavily equipped with headgear and a pair of gloves "like a robot."

However, after working at high demanding tasks for several days, she nearly collapsed. "I was producing the most famous mobile phone, but it is none of my business."

In 2013, Foxconn's plant in Zhengzhou introduced a "silent" working mode, prohibiting workers to talk about anything not related to their business or face dismissal.

The "mode" was canceled soon after two workers committed suicide in four days.

On the cover of Foxconn's internal publication, a slogan declares: "work a little bit harder every day."

For Wang Guoying, "there's not much point" in that. It would not bring him any useful skills by "wasting" time there for another two or three years, and all he can do is to transfer to another Foxconn plant.

"Work harder and save much money, so I can marry and build a home back to my village," said Wang. This might be his only clear future.