Serious Stop Posting Faked News ... FT Leeports Apple Deepening Supply Chain in China!

[Pinkieslut]

Why Apple wants to deepen its China supply chain
Tech Scroll Asia, your guide to the billions made and lost in Asia tech
3 hours ago

Apple hopes the move would create a formidable alternative to Foxconn © REUTERS


We lead this week with a story on how Apple is trying to deepen its supply chain in China, even as US-China decoupling goes into overdrive (see Smart Data). Elsewhere, India's Reliance Jio is on a roll with new investors after its deal with Facebook and, finally, we take a look at how Hong Kong's Li & Fung, the world's largest sourcing company, is being squeezed by Amazon and Alibaba (In the Spotlight). Take care until next week.

The Big Story — exclusive
Apple is seeking to deepen its supply chain in China. At a time when the US is “decoupling” from China, Apple is encouraging one of its Chinese suppliers to make a big investment in a Taiwanese company that manufactures metal casings for iPhones and MacBooks, according to this exclusive in the Nikkei Asian Review.

Apple hopes the move would create a formidable alternative to Foxconn, a Taiwanese company that has long been Apple’s biggest supplier, making more than 50 per cent of iPhones since the device’s debut in 2007.

Key implications: The company that Apple is encouraging is called Luxshare-ICT, a fast-growing Chinese manufacturer that already assembles Apple Airpods. If it finalises long-running talks with Taiwan’s Catcher Technology, it would give Luxshare the ability to produce high-quality metal casings as well as access to smartphone assembly knowhow.

This would take Luxshare a step closer to becoming the Chinese version of Foxconn — a single company with operations that span nearly the entire electronics supply chain. It could also help Luxshare take on a bigger role as an Apple supplier.

Upshot: “For Apple, it is a win-win situation to support the growth of Luxshare,” a supply chain manager said of the proposed Catcher deal. “Not only do Chinese companies offer lower prices with competitive quality, but it would also help Apple further deepen its network in a market with 1.3bn people.”

 

[Pinkieslut]

Apple uninterested in manufacturing iPhone 11 in India: Report
Apple initially had plans to move production to India or Vietnam though.
Shubham Verma

Apple is not counting on India to produce its top-end luxurious iPhone models. Blame it on the lack of robust infrastructure and skilled labour in India that Apple believes are the main reasons behind the reluctance. In a report by The Wall Street Journal, analysing the current situation of the production halt in China amid the Coronavirus outbreak, India was deemed unsuitable by Apple for the production of iPhone 11 series units, despite the company’s push into the country over the past few years.

"Apple is unlikely to shift any of the production of its most expensive iPhones to India later this year," a Foxconn executive was quoted as saying in the WSJ report. Foxconn is the major third-party manufacturer of iPhone that has a mass-scale production taking place in China. Although Foxconn has its manufacturing facilities in India as well, it is only partly responsible for producing iPhone units, especially the iPhone XR. A major fraction of the iPhone production which comprises that of iPhone 6 series, iPhone 7 series takes place at the Wistron facility in India.

Over the past few years, smartphone production has been scaled up in India by many OEMs to circumvent import duty and lower the costs of their products to penetrate more aggressively into the market. But that has only been limited to assembly of phones and manufacturing less delicate and less complex equipment. The iPhone production requires components that are developed exclusively by suppliers. The population in China has allowed suppliers to build factories with a capacity for more than 250,000 people.

Although there were plans for iPhone 11 production in India that Apple initially mulled. Despite the push, Apple executives were not convinced enough to shift the production from China to countries like India and Vietnam.

"India is the closest comparison, but its roads, ports and infrastructure lag far behind those in China. The supply chain isn't in place, and workers in India aren't ready to produce the high-end, organic light-emitting diode models," the Foxconn executive told WSJ on why India is not relevant to produce iPhone 11.

Moreover, Apple was apprehensive that moving the production outside China will hamper the already plummeting sales in the region, which accounts for about a fifth of the total revenue. The report also mentions that the decision to continue production in China is unlikely to change this year, owing to the lack of the necessary infrastructure in India as required by Apple.

 

[laksaboy]

Apple is encouraging one of its Chinese suppliers to make a big investment in a Taiwanese company that manufactures metal casings for iPhones and MacBooks

Going to Taiwan could be an easy way to avoid getting hurt by the upcoming sanctions. Let's see if Winnie goes batshit and attacks Taiwan.

By the way, this year's Apple iPhone 12 (non-Pro) will have OLED display panels from BOE, a Chinese company. The iPhone 12 Pro will get OLED display panels from Samsung.

 

[blackmondy]

I support Apple phones made in India. The phones will not only come in different colors but also in different curry flavor. I want my iPhone to smell like mutton curry.