Around five million Chinese jobs are thought to rely on Apple’s manufacturing in the country, and Apple employs around 10,000 people directly in China. After a series of suicides at Foxconn, a plant in China that produces the iPhone, Apple has been under fire for poor working conditions in its suppliers' factories. Shares of Apple … The decision wasn’t driven by cheap labor costs in Asia. And the tooling skill is very deep here. In the U.S., you could have a meeting of tooling engineers and I'm not sure we could fill the room. We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27. The tech giant outsources hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs to countries like Mongolia, China, Korea and Taiwan. May 31, 2010, 5:07 PM • 4 min read. While the era of mass outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to China might be over, China's looking to move up the value chain to knowledge … No sign of iPhones, though. But Apple apparently doesn't outsource these jobs to … … In China, you could fill multiple football fields. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. And the idea that Apple simply hands over the design to a company like ICT, which just manufacturers according to spec, is simply untrue, says Cook: It's not designed and sent over--that sounds like there's no interaction. That intersection, which is very rare to find anywhere, that kind of skill, is very important to our business because of the precision and quality level that we like. Although Trump has repeatedly claimed that Apple was open to the idea of shifting manufacturing from China to the US, it’s likely that production will instead move to countries in South East Asia, with India and Vietnam considered to be front runners for iPhone production, according to Nikkei. By CLARISSA WARD and BETH LOYD. Apple quietly sidestepped a crackdown on its much-maligned Ireland tax avoidance practice by moving its overseas operation to the tax haven of … But the media, particularly the American one, did not react well to the news when it first became clear. But the dollar cost of manufacturing in America isn't the biggest issue that's driving Apple's decision to outsource manufacturing to China. The pragmatic side of Steve Jobs and Apple with outsourcing Who better than the tech luminary to explain why the company he co-founded favored China over domestic manufacturing? But as Apple CEO Tim Cook recently pointed out, this picture wouldn't tell the entire story of how an iPhone actually gets made today, or why Apple prefers to make them in China. Along with Vietnam and India, Mexico, Indonesia, and Malaysia are also thought to be under consideration. And it requires a level of skill that's extremely high. But for us, the number one attraction is the quality of the people. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced Friday morning that it will invest more than 3.5 billion yuan (about $506 million) to establish research and … Now I think many countries in the world have woke up and said this is a key thing and we've got to correct that. Reading this tagline might trigger a vision in your mind of Jonathan Ive, Apple's legendary chief design officer, dropping the drawings and technical specs for the next-generation iPhone into a (highly secure) shared folder that its low-cost suppliers in China can access as they manufacture and assemble the product by the millions. This also meant that China is able to remain flexible and immediately adaptable to the needs of Apple. I want to thank our extraordinary Retail teams for their … The reason is because of the skill, and the quantity of skill in one location and the type of skill it is. With economic turmoil overseas and controversy in the election rhetoric, China is in the cross hairs. For service and support, customers can visit support.apple.com. China is the best fit for Apple Apple’s decision to outsource its manufacturing to China is really about who can build the most number of Apple products within the shortest amount of time. The net-net, Apple’s top 4 iPhone smartphone ODMs are very large and sophisticated companies, driving $260B in revenue, are based in Taiwan, do most of their manufacturing in China… A new report uses Apple and its recent history to look at why the success of some U.S. firms hasn't led to more U.S. jobs. Those are sold not only here but exported around the world. The top destination for Apple’s outsourcing is India: In 2012, the news on Apple’s decision to col… 1 Reason We Make iPhones in China (It's Not What You Think) China is much more … We are committed to providing exceptional service to our customers. When you think about AirPods as a user, you might think it couldn't be that hard because it's really small. And the part that's the most unknown is there's almost two million application developers in China that write apps for the iOS App Store. Apple Inc. (AAPL) supplier Foxconn, which has boosted its China workforce 50 percent in two years to 1.2 million, needs to use employees in more parts of the country to … The country has a huge workforce of skilled workers, and its infrastructure is more resilient and less prone to problems like power shortages, which can have serious consequences for large manufacturers. It has its headquarters in … I can't imagine how that would be. These are some of the most innovative mobile apps in the world, and the entrepreneurs that run them are some of the most inspiring and entrepreneurial in the world. But it is still a good place to do business, under the right circumstances. Bringing Innovation to Market Apple CEO Tim Cook: This Is the No. You don't do it by throwing it over the chasm. Chinese Environmental Activists Dump on Apple The China Labor Watch report examined conditions in 10 factories that make Apple products and alleged that 7 … Citing an example of the type of a highly skilled supplier Apple works closely with, Cook talked at length about recently visiting one company that it has collaborated with for several years: I visited ICT--they manufacture, among other things, the AirPods for us. It’s unclear how many of these jobs would be impacted by losing 15 to 30 percent of production. Apple Inc.’s supply chain is feeling the strain as the coronavirus extends production outages and dampens demand for the company’s products in China. Moving production won’t be a quick process. ”A lower birthrate, higher labor costs and the risk of overly centralizing its production in one country. The popular conception is that companies come to China because of low labor cost. Pegatron. Apple is exploring moving between 15 and 30 percent of its hardware production out of China, according to a new report by Nikkei. And that is not the reason to come to China from a supply point of view. It would never work. The truth is, the process engineering and process development associated with our products require innovation in and of itself. “Apple is now transferring costs from the trade war through their suppliers to workers and profiting from the exploitation of Chinese Workers,” the … Apple's attraction to outsourcing the assembly of its flagship product to China comes from the cost cuts associated with doing so. The company reportedly has a growing team looking into moving production, and has asked key manufacturing partners like Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron to evaluate the available options. Assembled in China." The AirPods have several hundred components in them, and the level of precision embedded into the audio quality--without getting into really nerdy engineering--it's really hard. “People go to China not because it’s cheap, but because it’s fast and flexible,” says Andy Tsay, a Santa Clara University business professor who has studied Apple’s supply chain. Read more. Many people work under the impression that the reason that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), for example, outsources the bulk of its manufacturing to China in the presence of massive factories where the workers work for salaries that no American could live off at the end of the month. Apple is exploring moving between 15 and 30 percent of its hardware production out of China, according to a new report by Nikkei. Addressing the designed-in-California, made-in-low-cost-China impression that many people have--an impression reinforced by the tagline that is printed on every box containing a new iPhone--Cook had this to say: There's a confusion about China. Manufacturing an iPhone in the United States would cost about $65 more than manufacturing it in China, where it costs an estimated $8. The thing that most people focus on if they're a foreigner coming to China is the size of the market, and obviously it's the biggest market in the world in so many areas. That was the reason why the company became secretive about its software outsourcing and remains such today. However, Apple reportedly wants to shift production regardless of whether the trade dispute gets resolved. Apple is not reported to have set a deadline for when suppliers need to respond with plans for where to shift production. Shifting production out of China, which has built up a huge ecosystem of logistics and components suppliers around Apple, will be a “painful and difficult” process, according to one supplier quoted by Nikkei. It’s no secret that Apple has been outsourcing its manufacturing to China for years now. The cost of labor per hour in China is... See full answer below. Foxconn recently said that it has the capacity to move production of all US iPhones out of China if necessary. We keep walking. It is expected to take 18 months at a minimum, with results expected to emerge in between two to three years. In the meantime, the trade turmoil between the U.S. and China represents an overhang of between $20 and $25 on Apple shares, according to Ives. Pegatron is another company rounding out the Taiwan lineup. The catalyst for the shift is the ongoing trade war between China and the US, which is expected to intensify at the end of this month with the introduction of 25 percent tariffs on devices including phones, laptops, and tablets. Apple gets a lot of stick about manufacturing in China, and the issue came up again recently with the release of the iPhone 5. That's always what we strive for, and the way that you get there, particularly when you're pushing the envelope in the type of materials that you have, and the precision that your specifications are forcing, requires a kind of hand-in-glove partnership. I'm not sure what part of China they go to, but the truth is China stopped being the low-labor-cost country many years ago. The company reportedly has a … China has extraordinary skills. Apple is reportedly shifting production for its new Mac Pro computer from the United States to China. The reason Apple sticks "Made in China" on its devices is because the majority of the parts tend to be sourced from China, but they are frequently made elsewhere (in Taiwan, for example). newsletter, considering shifting production of its more premium models, move production of all US iPhones out of China. China's FoxConn produces Apple, Dell and Nokia products. Take a look at the back of the box from which you unpacked your iPhone and you'll see this: "Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China.". Apple plans to move some manufacturing out of China, reports Nikkei, Apple’s AirPods Pro are back down to $190 at Woot, Plus, save on Microsoft’s great Surface Headphones and some PlayStation games, Dell’s G3 gaming laptop is a bargain at $700, Several laptops and tablets are discounted today, Sign up for the The inscription on Apple's products reflects its determination to stay atop the food chain: "Designed by Apple in California. Our online stores are open at www.apple.com, or you can download the Apple Store app on the App Store. But the depth of highly skilled labor in the manufacturing space is why Apple makes its iPhones there: China has moved into very advanced manufacturing, so you find in China the intersection of craftsman kind of skill, and sophisticated robotics and the computer science world. And China has an abundance of skilled labor unseen elsewhere, says Cook: The products we do require really advanced tooling, and the precision that you have to have, the tooling and working with the materials that we do are state of the art. Highly skilled software developers developing apps for the App Store are one reason Apple likes to be in China. Outside G3, teetering stacks … The made-in-China model, on the other hand, has carried no such social benefits, either in Apple's home country or in the People's Republic. Benefits of outsourcing, not solely for Apple, but in general, include less cost and cheaper raw materials. Apple contracted much of the work to enormous factories in China, some stretching miles and employing hundreds of thousands of people who assemble, test … Criminal gang arrested for selling Apple users' private data in China. Watch the entire interview with Tim Cook at the Fortune Global Forum: China is much more than a source of low-cost, low-skilled labor. Cook credits China's vast supply of highly skilled vocational talent: The vocational expertise is very very deep here, and I give the education system a lot of credit for continuing to push on that even when others were de-emphasizing vocational. Not only the product but the way that it's made, because we want to make things in the scale of hundreds of millions, and we want the quality level of zero defects. Apple says it is dedicated to the ethical sourcing of minerals, but the programme found evidence that tin from illegal mines could be entering its supply chain. These adverse factors are not going anywhere… with or without the final round of the $300 billion tariff,” one executive, apparently from an Apple supplier, told Nikkei. At the Fortune Global Forum in Guangzhou in early December (my firm, McKinsey & Company, was the Knowledge Partner), I listened to Cook as he explained why Apple continues to favor China as its central base for manufacturing iPhones: The number one reason why we like to be in China is the people. China called that right from the beginning. Apple has previously produced lower-cost iPhone models in India, and last year was reportedly considering shifting production of its more premium models to the country in order to avoid its tariffs on imported smartphones. 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