Three people are dead and 15 others were injured in an explosion at a new Chinese factory operated by the Foxconn Technology Group, which makes Apple's iPhones and iPads, late last week.

The blast and a subsequent fire, triggered by combustible dust, hit a manufacturing centre in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan province about 7pm local time last Friday.

Of those injured, six were treated at a local hospital and released, the company said in an emailed statement. The fire triggered by the blast was later extinguished, Edmund Ding, a company spokesman, said by phone.