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Apple ships components from all over the world to China for assembly already. This would just be one more.

by macshome 4y ago

vlovich123 4y ago
Can you give an example of which ones? AFAIK every single component comes from Asia.
- philliphaydon 4y ago
  100% of the FaceID component in iPhone comes from Texas. According to Apple. Edit: Oh and I think the accelerometer comes from Germany, but I would need to look it up, it might be a German company.
  - vlovich123 4y ago
    It’s Bosch. AFAIK The chips themselves aren’t coming from Germany but are gabbed in Asia and shipped within Asia. Are you sure it’s manufactured in Germany? I don’t know enough about the mechanics of Finisar but I would be fairly surprised to learn that Apple is shipping 1 component from Texas to China for manufacturing. Of course there may be logistical reasons why that works out for that particular component (maybe the laser scanning doesn’t change much so it’s not hard to just keep pumping them out all year round so lead time for a new line isn’t as relevant). I remain highly skeptical this is done for the accelerometer as I think that changes every year (unless it’s matured enough that they don’t bother anymore but I would doubt that’s the case). This seems even less likely, to me at least, for the CPU that definitely changes significantly each year and is co-designed and brand new along with the rest of the phone (ie shipping times are critical to make sure you can set up the assembly line on time).
    - macshome 4y ago
      Apple posts annual lists of all their suppliers and where the manufacturing is done on their page here. https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/ https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/ When I worked there I got to see a few presentations on the iPhone supply chain and they do indeed source and ship single components from countries and companies. Remember though that even a single component for iPhone will end up being huge volumes of parts.
      - vlovich123 4y ago
        Any supplier with locations outside of Asia ALSO has locations in Asia AFAICT. It’s unclear what manufacturing occurs outside of Asia and Apple doesn’t categorize what is getting manufactured. It could be things like assembly line equipment is manufactured outside Asia and the components themselves within Asia or prototypes are manufactured outside Asia with mass manufacturing inside Asia. Do you have a concrete example of any mass manufactured electronics component coming from outside China? Heck, I’m not even convinced that Gorilla Glass is made outside Asia because Corning is listed as having 3 locations and 2 are in Asia so it would be supremely strange to be mass manufacturing some part of the iPhone in Corning.
- macshome 4y ago
  All the glass, all Gorilla Glass in fact, is made in Kentucky. This page is a bit out of date, but I don’t think that the sourcing of parts has changed all that much. https://u.osu.edu/iphone/fsdfsdff/ https://u.osu.edu/iphone/fsdfsdff/
  - vlovich123 4y ago
    Corning is listed as having locations in Kentucky, Taiwan and South Korea [1]. Why would they be making mass manufactured components in Kentucky if they have plants in Taiwan and SK? Most likely Kentucky is only responsible for initial engineering samples and/or creating equipment for mass manufacturing. From your link, this is what’s said: > While the iPhone is mostly designed by the Apple team in the US, its components are provided by many countries around the world. This is claimed to be supported by [2] so let’s follow that chain. Here’s all the link says: > Still, reports are coming in that US companies involved in the Apple supply chain are beefing up their US production facilities and many of the components that go into the iPhone are actually made Stateside and shipped to China for assembly. No attribution. No evidence. Just an unsubstantiated claim. Your source also says this: > Several companies around the world also contributes to the making of iPhone. For example, the French-Italian company STMicroelectronics manufactures iPhone’s gyroscope that allows people to change the display from vertical to horizontal. The Dutch company NXP Semiconductors provides the M7 Motion Coprocessor that can gather the motion data and use it to measure health and fitness. But again. Those devices are getting designed in those countries but they get mass manufactured inside Asia. The evidence for that hypothesis is that Apple’s supplier list contains manufacturing locations in Asia for those suppliers. Maybe they do local manufacturing for development samples they deliver to Apple or they manufacture various supporting machines for the assembly line (eg calibration machines for audio and sensors) but the components themselves almost certainly are made in Asia. [1] https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple-FY21-Supplier-List.pdf https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple-FY21... [2] http://financesonline.com/how-iphone-is-made/ http://financesonline.com/how-iphone-is-made/

Apple ships components from all over the world to China for assembly already. This would just be one more.

vlovich123 4y ago

Can you give an example of which ones? AFAIK every single component comes from Asia.

philliphaydon 4y ago
100% of the FaceID component in iPhone comes from Texas. According to Apple. Edit: Oh and I think the accelerometer comes from Germany, but I would need to look it up, it might be a German company.
- vlovich123 4y ago
  It’s Bosch. AFAIK The chips themselves aren’t coming from Germany but are gabbed in Asia and shipped within Asia. Are you sure it’s manufactured in Germany? I don’t know enough about the mechanics of Finisar but I would be fairly surprised to learn that Apple is shipping 1 component from Texas to China for manufacturing. Of course there may be logistical reasons why that works out for that particular component (maybe the laser scanning doesn’t change much so it’s not hard to just keep pumping them out all year round so lead time for a new line isn’t as relevant). I remain highly skeptical this is done for the accelerometer as I think that changes every year (unless it’s matured enough that they don’t bother anymore but I would doubt that’s the case). This seems even less likely, to me at least, for the CPU that definitely changes significantly each year and is co-designed and brand new along with the rest of the phone (ie shipping times are critical to make sure you can set up the assembly line on time).
  - macshome 4y ago
    Apple posts annual lists of all their suppliers and where the manufacturing is done on their page here. https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/ https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/ When I worked there I got to see a few presentations on the iPhone supply chain and they do indeed source and ship single components from countries and companies. Remember though that even a single component for iPhone will end up being huge volumes of parts.
    - vlovich123 4y ago
      Any supplier with locations outside of Asia ALSO has locations in Asia AFAICT. It’s unclear what manufacturing occurs outside of Asia and Apple doesn’t categorize what is getting manufactured. It could be things like assembly line equipment is manufactured outside Asia and the components themselves within Asia or prototypes are manufactured outside Asia with mass manufacturing inside Asia. Do you have a concrete example of any mass manufactured electronics component coming from outside China? Heck, I’m not even convinced that Gorilla Glass is made outside Asia because Corning is listed as having 3 locations and 2 are in Asia so it would be supremely strange to be mass manufacturing some part of the iPhone in Corning.
macshome 4y ago
All the glass, all Gorilla Glass in fact, is made in Kentucky. This page is a bit out of date, but I don’t think that the sourcing of parts has changed all that much. https://u.osu.edu/iphone/fsdfsdff/ https://u.osu.edu/iphone/fsdfsdff/
- vlovich123 4y ago
  Corning is listed as having locations in Kentucky, Taiwan and South Korea [1]. Why would they be making mass manufactured components in Kentucky if they have plants in Taiwan and SK? Most likely Kentucky is only responsible for initial engineering samples and/or creating equipment for mass manufacturing. From your link, this is what’s said: > While the iPhone is mostly designed by the Apple team in the US, its components are provided by many countries around the world. This is claimed to be supported by [2] so let’s follow that chain. Here’s all the link says: > Still, reports are coming in that US companies involved in the Apple supply chain are beefing up their US production facilities and many of the components that go into the iPhone are actually made Stateside and shipped to China for assembly. No attribution. No evidence. Just an unsubstantiated claim. Your source also says this: > Several companies around the world also contributes to the making of iPhone. For example, the French-Italian company STMicroelectronics manufactures iPhone’s gyroscope that allows people to change the display from vertical to horizontal. The Dutch company NXP Semiconductors provides the M7 Motion Coprocessor that can gather the motion data and use it to measure health and fitness. But again. Those devices are getting designed in those countries but they get mass manufactured inside Asia. The evidence for that hypothesis is that Apple’s supplier list contains manufacturing locations in Asia for those suppliers. Maybe they do local manufacturing for development samples they deliver to Apple or they manufacture various supporting machines for the assembly line (eg calibration machines for audio and sensors) but the components themselves almost certainly are made in Asia. [1] https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple-FY21-Supplier-List.pdf https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple-FY21... [2] http://financesonline.com/how-iphone-is-made/ http://financesonline.com/how-iphone-is-made/