The labor rights group that reported a strike says issues are not resolved, however. And China's factories face challenges not only with labor matters, but also its general approach to manufacturing, and global attention to its practices, notes one analyst.

Foxconn's e-mailed statement answers the claim by labor rights group China Labor Watch that thousands of workers at a Foxconn factory yesterday, bringing some iPhone 5 production lines to a halt. The labor watchdog group said 3000 to 4000 workers refused to work at a Foxconn complex in Zhengzhou because of increasing quality controls as well as an order to work through a week-long national holiday that began on Monday.

Foxconn, for its part, says employees who worked through the holiday volunteered to do so and were paid three times their regular hourly rate. The company also says the only issues with workers occurred October 1 and 2 and were "immediately addressed and measures taken, including providing additional staff for the lines in question," .

Foxconn also says reports of a strike are inaccurate and that work hasn't stopped at the Zhengzhou facility or any other. "[P]roduction has continued on schedule," its statement reports.