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The end of Apple’s affair with China
Economist ^ | 10.24.2022

Posted on 10/26/2022 7:18:48 PM PDT by libh8er

By a dusty stretch of the deafening road from Chennai to Bengaluru lie three colossal, anonymous buildings. Inside, away from the din of traffic, is a high-tech facility operated by Foxconn, a Taiwanese manufacturer. A short drive away Pegatron, another Taiwanese tech firm, has erected a vast new factory of its own. Salcomp, a Finnish gadget-maker, has set one up not far away. Farther west is a 500-acre campus run by Tata, an Indian conglomerate. What these closely guarded facilities have in common is their client: a demanding and secretive American firm known locally as “the fruit company”.

The mushrooming of factories in southern India marks a new chapter for the world’s biggest technology company. Apple’s extraordinarily successful past two decades—revenue up 70-fold, share price up 600-fold, a market value of $2.4trn—is partly the result of a big bet on China. Apple banked on China-based factories, which now churn out more than 90% of its products, and wooed Chinese consumers, who in some years contributed up to a quarter of Apple’s revenue. Yet economic and geopolitical shifts are forcing the company to begin a hurried decoupling. Its turn away from China marks a big shift for Apple, and is emblematic of an even bigger one for the world economy.

Apple’s packaging proclaims “Designed by Apple in California”, but its gadgets are assembled along a supply chain that stretches from Amazonas to Zhejiang. At the centre is China, where 150 of Apple’s biggest suppliers operate production facilities. Tim Cook, who was Apple’s head of operations before he became chief executive in 2011, pioneered the company’s approach to contract manufacturing. A regular visitor to China, Mr Cook has maintained good relations with the Chinese government, obeying its requirements to remove apps and to hold Chinese users’ data locally, where it is availabla

(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Russia; US: California
KEYWORDS: aapl; apple; brazil; brics; california; ccp; china; india; reservecurrency; ruble; rupee; russia; sco; southafrica; taiwan; yuan
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1 posted on 10/26/2022 7:18:48 PM PDT by libh8er
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To: libh8er

I have no problem buying an iPhone 15 manufactured and assembled in India or Vietnam. Neither is as openly hostile to the US as China, and we should be glad about anything that negatively impacts China’s wealth and its ability to make war against us.


2 posted on 10/26/2022 7:29:02 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: libh8er
All the super woke Starbucks cowboys sport pricey Apple gear. You know, the gear made by slave labor in China.

3 posted on 10/26/2022 7:42:37 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: AnotherUnixGeek

China saw this coming and bought up much of the production capability in Vietnam, the Philippines and other locations. So your shirts, pants, socks, shoes and iPhones will still be made by China.


4 posted on 10/26/2022 7:44:43 PM PDT by Newbomb Turk
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To: AnotherUnixGeek

Who sent all the manufacturing to China ? The USA ! Everybody was happy to get cheaper goods from China and US companies were happy to make bigger profits . Now that China has become a success story and a threat economically to the USA some folks want to boycott their products ??? Crazy man .


5 posted on 10/26/2022 8:26:48 PM PDT by sushiman
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To: sushiman
Now that China has become a success story and a threat economically to the USA some folks want to boycott their products ???

No one checked with me. I've been opposed to our appeasement of China since the Nixon/Kissinger days (I was under 10 at the time, but even then the whole concept of sucking up to one set of Communists to oppose another set of Communists sounded dumb). It's not like we in the USA have been given a choice - both Democrats and Republicans have been lining up at the Beijing trough for decades.
6 posted on 10/26/2022 8:55:47 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
I have no problem buying an iPhone 15 manufactured and assembled in India or Vietnam.

I do and so does every patriot. Make it here. Do it now. Put a tariff on the import of all electronics. It's the only way to be secure.

7 posted on 10/26/2022 9:11:17 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: sushiman

It’s not crazy. Make it here says every patriot.


8 posted on 10/26/2022 9:12:08 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: sushiman
Who sent all the manufacturing to China ?

We never voted on it. Both parties are anti tariff. BOTH.

9 posted on 10/26/2022 9:13:23 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va

Who is going to make everything the USA imports from China for the same price ? Are we going to hire illegal aliens ?


10 posted on 10/26/2022 9:17:50 PM PDT by sushiman
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To: sushiman
Who is going to make everything the USA imports from China for the same price ? Are we going to hire illegal aliens ?

Per phone it wil cost more made in the USA, about 3% more . Worth it.

11 posted on 10/26/2022 9:23:25 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va

Worth every penny of increased cost!!


12 posted on 10/26/2022 9:24:42 PM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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To: central_va

If we assemble Apple i-phones in USA, you would need an income of $500,000/year to afford an i-phone. Why you wish to deprive me of future i-phones? My grocery store can’t find stock boys at $16/hour to START. Wonder how much it will cost to hire a skilled assembler in USA (assuming we can find enough) able to work with intricate electronic parts.


13 posted on 10/26/2022 9:27:44 PM PDT by entropy12
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To: Trump Girl Kit Cat

The cost of labor per iphone is about $20.00/iPhome. So made in the USA: let’s double that to $40.00/iPhone. Each iPhone costs around $800.00. A $20.00 increase is around 3%. No big deal.


14 posted on 10/26/2022 9:28:09 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va

Your 3% estimate is joke of the year.


15 posted on 10/26/2022 9:28:48 PM PDT by entropy12
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To: entropy12

The cost of labor per iPhone is around $20.00/phone made in China. Google it. So how much would labor be PER PHONE be if made in the USA? $30, $40, $50?


16 posted on 10/26/2022 9:30:08 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: entropy12
How much does it cost to manufacture an iPhone 11?

The iPhone 11 starts at $699, and the most expensive model costs $1,449. To make these phones, Apple spends about $240 on parts and $4.50 on assembly costs, according to IHS Markit.

17 posted on 10/26/2022 9:33:33 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: entropy12
“Those costs are likely to range between $12.50 and $30 per unit. The iPhone manufacturing costs are likely to be twice or three times the average. Labor costs are still a small part of the overall cost structure at between 2% and 5% of sales price.”

Your iPhone Probably Costs Between $12.50 to $30 to Make

18 posted on 10/26/2022 9:38:31 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va

You have to figure in the US they are dealing with HUGE regulations, OSHA, matching payroll taxes, workers comp according to payroll employee benefits, I am thinking about $100.00 cost per phone STILL worth every penny!!


19 posted on 10/26/2022 9:43:16 PM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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To: Trump Girl Kit Cat

$100/phone would be the very upper end.


20 posted on 10/26/2022 9:44:16 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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