Apple Issues iPhone 14 Pro Shipment Warning Ahead of Holiday Shopping Season

[JippaLippa]

I suspect this is the final nail in the coffin for SCM in China. I can bet you Apple is working hard behind the scenes to get out of China before the end of the decade. Its likely Tim’s one final act before he retires from Apple. He is being diplomatic about it and doing so cautiously as to not upset China. Also, a lot of the components required to assemble an iPhone are still being built there. Until the who SCM can be migrated to India and Vietnam, it will take a while. It makes sense too, China is actually becoming costly to do business not just because of the lock downs, but so many are now lifted out of poverty into middle class status. This leads to higher cost to hire workers to this kind of vocational skill. So, spreading some of that prosperity to India is indeed the right thing. Also, have a backup plan for India too. Africa has a very young population.

Well said.
We can say many things about Tim Cook...
No Charisma as a leader, questionable choices with regards to development, disproportioned focus on new features rather than fixing software and messy lineups...
That said, we know he's a logistic genuis, and I 100% expect he's low-key moving the production outside china.

 

[quarkysg]

I do not understand why it has to be in Southeast Asia. They could like diversify into Mexico or Brazil for North America, India/Vietnam/Malaysia for Asia, and maybe Egypt for Africa and Europe. I mean even if they take the whole plant and put it in South America the labour is cheaper and close to Apple HQ than traveling half way around the world to China back and forth.

It makes more sense to assemble the product where most of the parts are made. Shipping parts half way around the world to assemble it will be more costly and a lot harder to plan in keeping inventory of parts.

 

[Abazigal]

A momentary setback.

Consumers are unlikely to leave the apple ecosystem. All this means is that iphone upgrading will be pushed to the early part of next year (which in turn means Apple earns less this quarter, but makes up for it in the next).

 

[_Spinn_]

By now it should be clear that working with China is a liability.

 

[MacBH928]

The Foxxcon iPhone “factory” in China has over 200K employees. Think about that for a minute. Where else in the world could that level of effort be marshaled at a reasonable cost (from Apple‘s POV)? What Apple and Foxxcon created in China is unique to that culture, and now that dependency is biting them in the ass.

Bruh...Unemployment numbers are like this:

Egypt: 2M+
Mexico: 2M+
Brazil: 14M+
India: 28M+

Yes it will take time for traing and setting up but Apple has been making iphones since 2007. In that time they could have graduated PhD employees.

It makes more sense to assemble the product where most of the parts are made. Shipping parts half way around the world to assemble it will be more costly and a lot harder to plan in keeping inventory of parts.

One would think so but when you look in manufacturing you will see that any one product is assembled from material collected from all around the world. Some companies build components in one country and ship them to another for assembly. I know Samsung assembled in Egypt and Fujitsu air conditioners components built in Japan and assembled in Thailand.

There must be a reason for this but I do not know it.

 

[DotCom2]

By now it should be clear that working with China is a liability.

I think the 2+ trillion Fruit Company knows that.

 

[cardfan]

By now it should be clear that working with China is a liability.

Perhaps. But it’s a necessity. Tim Cook gets paid to figure how to work with China.

 

[SnappleRumors]

How is that an “excuse”?

What is it then?

 

[Tagbert]

What is it then?

A statement of fact that, due to China’s poor handling of Covid, the Foxconn factory that makes iPhone Pros is shutting down due to another Covid outbreak right in the middle of the holiday production schedule.

Are you suggesting that this is not the reason or that there is another reason? Yes, we all wish that China would swallow a little pride and accept the better foreign-produced, mRNA vaccines but they aren’t and we and Apple have no control over that. All Apple can do is to push harder on their efforts to shift production to Viet Nam and India and perhaps other locations.

 

[SnappleRumors]

A statement of fact that, due to China’s poor handling of Covid, the Foxconn factory that makes iPhone Pros is shutting down due to another Covid outbreak right in the middle of the holiday production schedule.

Are you suggesting that this is not the reason or that there is another reason? Yes, we all wish that China would swallow a little pride and accept the better foreign-produced, mRNA vaccines but they aren’t and we and Apple have no control over that. All Apple can do is to push harder on their efforts to shift production to Viet Nam and India and perhaps other locations.

Call it an excuse or reason…they are the same. We’ve lived with COVID for three years and the reason/excuse is long past excusable.