Apple supplier halts work at China site

The company that makes Apple's iPhones suspended production at a factory in China Monday after a brawl by as many as 2,000 employees at a dormitory injured 40 people.

The fight, which is under investigation, erupted Sunday night at a privately managed dormitory near a Foxconn Technology Group factory in the northern city of Taiyuan, the company and Chinese police said. The official Xinhua News Agency reported 5,000 officers were dispatched to the scene.

The Taiwanese-owned company said the facility, which employs 79,000, suspended work Monday and would reopen Tuesday. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that employees of the plant said it makes parts for the iPhone; Foxconn declined to say whether the factory is involved in iPhone production.

Foxconn makes iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc. and also assembles products for Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. It is one of China's biggest employers, with some 1.2 million workers in four factories.

The unrest happens at a critical time for Apple, just days after the launch of the latest iPhone model in the United States and eight other countries. The phone quickly sold out in most U.S. stores, and Apple has a three- to four-week backlog of online orders as it ramps up production.

Apple said Monday that it sold more than 5 million of the iPhone 5 in the three days since its launch, fewer than some analysts expected. Apple shares fell $9.30, or 1.3 percent, to close at $690.79.