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People always make this argument, for at least the last 10 years. Since Apple has not yet shown any real action towards reducing their dependency on China, why

People always make this argument, for at least the last 10 years. Since Apple has not yet shown any real action towards reducing their dependency on China, why would it be any different 5 years from now?

SadTrombone 4y ago
Apple has already started moving iPhone production to India/Vietnam with the goal of having 40-45% of their iPhones being produced there. It's far from a trivial move.
- judge2020 4y ago
  For reference, this seems to have started with Airpods which have been (in part) assembled in Vietnam since 2020: https://redd.it/gokl90 https://redd.it/gokl90
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    Which means it took them over a decade to start moving their assembly lines out of China. The GP comment still stands, Apple clearly had no urgent interest in ending their relationship with China. A cynic might even suggest that they're only doing it now that the geopolitical tensions are favoring the US...
    - Retric 4y ago
      What exactly are you thinking of as the starting point? Apple only started production of iPhones in 07 and things didn’t instantly fail.
- swiftcoder 4y ago
  I'd suggest that had less to do with potential CCP interference than it did with hedging against the massive tariffs on threatened in 2019 during the height of the US<->China "trade war"
eternalban 4y ago
I don't know the specifics of Apple's case. There is no real need, imo. I'll elaborate why I say that. Apple, an American company, made critical decisions based on what was said, disclosed, or strongly implied publicly and privately regarding both national and international political (leadership) consensus on globalization and China. Disregarding orthogonal ideological e.g. "(American/x) corporations are inherently bad", considerations, -imo- fair minded evaluation of Apple (or any ~Western company) would need to give weight to what political leadership, at both national and international levels, have done and are doing. Let's say Apple leaves China cold turkey, on principal. The abrupt and unprepared move ultimately ends the golden ride and Apple is out of the handset market. Who are we then buying our smart spyware/assistants from? Some company in Asia, correct? If the principal is truly that important (and I am -not- saying it isn't) then political leadership has to uniformly decouple from China. Why should Apple shoulder what is ultimately a geopolitical cost? And yes, you and me desiring a world according to our value system where the state can not illegally force private organizations to violate human rights is a geopolitical desire. So Apple should do certain things, but political leadership, and consumers, also need to do their bit as well.

SadTrombone 4y ago

Apple has already started moving iPhone production to India/Vietnam with the goal of having 40-45% of their iPhones being produced there. It's far from a trivial move.

judge2020 4y ago
For reference, this seems to have started with Airpods which have been (in part) assembled in Vietnam since 2020: https://redd.it/gokl90 https://redd.it/gokl90
- smoldesu 4y ago
  Which means it took them over a decade to start moving their assembly lines out of China. The GP comment still stands, Apple clearly had no urgent interest in ending their relationship with China. A cynic might even suggest that they're only doing it now that the geopolitical tensions are favoring the US...
  - Retric 4y ago
    What exactly are you thinking of as the starting point? Apple only started production of iPhones in 07 and things didn’t instantly fail.
swiftcoder 4y ago
I'd suggest that had less to do with potential CCP interference than it did with hedging against the massive tariffs on threatened in 2019 during the height of the US<->China "trade war"

eternalban 4y ago

I don't know the specifics of Apple's case. There is no real need, imo. I'll elaborate why I say that. Apple, an American company, made critical decisions based on what was said, disclosed, or strongly implied publicly and privately regarding both national and international political (leadership) consensus on globalization and China. Disregarding orthogonal ideological e.g. "(American/x) corporations are inherently bad", considerations, -imo- fair minded evaluation of Apple (or any ~Western company) would need to give weight to what political leadership, at both national and international levels, have done and are doing. Let's say Apple leaves China cold turkey, on principal. The abrupt and unprepared move ultimately ends the golden ride and Apple is out of the handset market. Who are we then buying our smart spyware/assistants from? Some company in Asia, correct? If the principal is truly that important (and I am -not- saying it isn't) then political leadership has to uniformly decouple from China. Why should Apple shoulder what is ultimately a geopolitical cost? And yes, you and me desiring a world according to our value system where the state can not illegally force private organizations to violate human rights is a geopolitical desire. So Apple should do certain things, but political leadership, and consumers, also need to do their bit as well.