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It is crazy how we perceive Apple as a premium brand, but they are really products being manufactured by cheap Chinese labor.

I love my iPhone 12 Pro, but stories like these make me feel gross about supporting a company like Apple. It is time to invest in the country that made them rich, or get out.

Oh you mean make it here? for 3 times the price and lower quality? I get it
 
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It is crazy how we perceive Apple as a premium brand, but they are really products being manufactured by cheap Chinese labor.

I love my iPhone 12 Pro, but stories like these make me feel gross about supporting a company like Apple. It is time to invest in the country that made them rich, or get out.
While this article is about Apple doing the right thing I had a feeling there would be some ridiculous post steering blame towards Apple. I have so much trouble respecting people who post such crap. SMH
 
It’s not a paywall. It’s free to read if you join. However, here is MacRumors’ article quoting them.


I don't think you know/understand what "paywall" means.

Right below the article, it says "Join now to read the full story"

I enter my email into the field and click on "Get Started"

I'm then taken to a page where I'm asked to "Choose the plan that's right for you"

When I'm asked to pay (subscribe) to read the article, that's a paywall.
 
It is crazy how we perceive Apple as a premium brand, but they are really products being manufactured by cheap Chinese labor.

I love my iPhone 12 Pro, but stories like these make me feel gross about supporting a company like Apple. It is time to invest in the country that made them rich, or get out.
Enjoy paying $4000 for a phone if you want it manufactured in North America. There's a reason we outsource labour.
 
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It's good that they caught up to this before it was made a bigger issue.

'The high cost of low wages'. Anti-suicide nets, and all, and yet people still defend American corporations exploiting third world labor. Sad...
 
It is crazy how we perceive Apple as a premium brand, but they are really products being manufactured by cheap Chinese labor.

I love my iPhone 12 Pro, but stories like these make me feel gross about supporting a company like Apple. It is time to invest in the country that made them rich, or get out.
Labor abuse can happen everywhere. I don’t care where the iPhones are made as long as they’re respecful of working conditions.

Apple is doing the right thing here.
 
I don't think you know/understand what "paywall" means.

Right below the article, it says "Join now to read the full story"

I enter my email into the field and click on "Get Started"

I'm then taken to a page where I'm asked to "Choose the plan that's right for you"

When I'm asked to pay (subscribe) to read the article, that's a paywall.
You are correct. I had thought the article was available free at least previously, but perhaps I'm mistaken, as it is definitely behind a paywall now. In any case, it's been quoted all over the net by the tech sites. I provided a link to the MacRumors article.


Labor abuse can happen everywhere. I don’t care where the iPhones are made as long as they’re respecful of working conditions.

Apple is doing the right thing here.
My point earlier was that Apple keeps whittling away profit margins from these companies (see article), so they have more and more incentive to cut corners. Apple can afford to pay its employees reasonably well, since they keep that 40% gross margin, at the expense of everyone else.
 
Yes, how dare young people be allowed to work and make extra money.
 
My point earlier was that Apple keeps whittling away profit margins from these companies (see article), so they have more and more incentive to cut corners. Apple can afford to pay its employees reasonably well, since they keep that 40% gross margin, at the expense of everyone else.
These companies accepted those terms, so I’m not sure why everyone is so upset about this. Manufacturing is a low profit business, there’s low risk and the skill level of the workers is also extremely low, hence low margins. I think some of you really don’t understand different industries and assume all are exactly the same.
 
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These companies accepted those terms, so I’m not sure why everyone is so upset about this. Manufacturing is a low profit business, there’s low risk and the skill level of the workers is also extremely low, hence low margins. I think some of you really don’t understand different industries and assume all are exactly the same.
I'm just reiterating a simple truth. If you pay razor thin margins, there is a high incentive to cheat.

It doesn't mean it's right, but it's the truth.
 
I don't think the article is clearer.



could lose some orders. Doesn't sounds remotely like suspending to me, doesn't even mention not accepting new business. Perhaps that's discussed in the source material and MacRumors just haven't brought the detail over?
The article is clearer, not clear. ;) I had to dig through it to understand what's probably going on. Essentially it looks like students wanted to work more or different hours (and on the production line) but that was against rules/regulations/laws. A manager helped them and falsified paperwork. The manager was fired. The students were paid for their time and sent back to their homes.

It's a rules violation but not exactly a major issue. That why the probation for the company was minor. Why would you punish an entire company for a handful of rules abuses? They are on probation until they demonstrate it isn't a pervasive issue. If it is, then more severe penalties kick in with loss of orders and production (which would go to Luxshare).
 
Refresh my memory: did Apple suspend business with Foxconn back in the day when things got so bad employees were throwing themselves off the roof, and Foxconn's response was to install safety nets along the sides of the building?
 
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It is crazy how we perceive Apple as a premium brand, but they are really products being manufactured by cheap Chinese labor.

I love my iPhone 12 Pro, but stories like these make me feel gross about supporting a company like Apple. It is time to invest in the country that made them rich, or get out.
Things are moving the other way. More and more premium brands are moving to countries that provide cheap labor. Take a closer look at where Volvo, MB, BMW, Audi are being made nowadays.
 
You are correct. I had thought the article was available free at least previously, but perhaps I'm mistaken, as it is definitely behind a paywall now. In any case, it's been quoted all over the net by the tech sites. I provided a link to the MacRumors article.
You sure about that?

You may want to take another look at your post.
 
That's not what it looks like. It looks like the students wanted to work more hours or different hours than they were allowed to and a manager helped them do it and falsified paperwork: "Apple said it didn’t find evidence of forced or underage labor in Pegatron’s case".

There are plenty of worker abuses (and forced labor) in China [not to mention this is Taiwan] but this doesn't appear to be one of those cases.
Can get behind this one.
Sometimes maybe it’s not “abuse”, “forced labor”, etc... and sometimes the best solution is not to shut down the job posts completely. When we hear about workers choosing to work for Apple for $5 an hour instead of $4 at another place, yes, might be still underpaid, might still not be perfect, but shutting it down (the equivalent of $0 for that worker) or forcing to choose a lesser paid one from a less regulated place is definitely not the solution.
If I’m a student and want to cash a lot bank I would be a bit upset that now I don’t have the option for doing that.
 
1. There was no abuse in this case.
2. There are zero cases in the US nor in Europe nor the whole west. /S
Your opinion. Mine is they were overworked and or misused, that squarely fits into definition of abuse. Easy on the dramatics and trying to take it out of proportion.


verb
/əˈbyo͞oz/
  1. 1.
    use (something) to bad effect or for a bad purpose; misuse.
    "the judge abused his power by imposing the fines"
    Similar:
    misuse
    misapply
    misemploy
    mishandle
    exploit
    pervert
    take advantage of
 
See post - nice name calling. Definition has many meanings you took the extreme one and tried to put words in my mouth. Logic and rational is important rather than attacks. Cheers
 
Enjoy paying $4000 for a phone if you want it manufactured in North America. There's a reason we outsource labour.
Please do some research before posting... yes you were exaggerating for effect, but the reality is a significant, but not huge jump. I for one would be fine to pay a premium to support jobs in the US (why I buy premium priced clothes from American Giant):

From Vox:

"If Apple managed to bring manufacturing jobs to the United States, analysts say that assembling the iPhone here wouldn’t actually make it much more expensive. As Konstantin Kakaes wrote in the MIT Technology Review in 2016, putting together the iPhone in the US from parts made abroad would only cost about $30 to $40 more per phone, a modest increase for a device with a 64 percent profit margin. Even if every part was made in the US, an iPhone would cost about $100 more, Kakaes concluded, assuming raw materials were still purchased on global markets."

From Investopedia:

"According to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, the reason to build in China is not because of the lower labor costs. If this were the case, Apple could make its phones in even cheaper locations. The main reason, according to Cook, is the skill required in tooling engineering. He claims that the specific skill set is no longer available in the U.S., but in China the expertise is prevalent."
 
Please do some research before posting... yes you were exaggerating for effect, but the reality is a significant, but not huge jump. I for one would be fine to pay a premium to support jobs in the US (why I buy premium priced clothes from American Giant):

From Vox:

"If Apple managed to bring manufacturing jobs to the United States, analysts say that assembling the iPhone here wouldn’t actually make it much more expensive. As Konstantin Kakaes wrote in the MIT Technology Review in 2016, putting together the iPhone in the US from parts made abroad would only cost about $30 to $40 more per phone, a modest increase for a device with a 64 percent profit margin. Even if every part was made in the US, an iPhone would cost about $100 more, Kakaes concluded, assuming raw materials were still purchased on global markets."

From Investopedia:

"According to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, the reason to build in China is not because of the lower labor costs. If this were the case, Apple could make its phones in even cheaper locations. The main reason, according to Cook, is the skill required in tooling engineering. He claims that the specific skill set is no longer available in the U.S., but in China the expertise is prevalent."
There is close to 0% chance iPhones have a 64% profit margin. Those numbers are made up and don't factor in development costs. They don't factor in support costs. They don't factor in the costs of building factories in the U.S. and training workers. They don't factor in health insurance and retirement costs for those workers. I could go on and on. Saying the iPhone X only cost Apple $360 to make ignores all the other costs associated with making the products. It's saying an iPhone is no more than a pile of components. That cost is what you get for a phone if someone else does all the engineering, designing, supporting, etc. and you only have to buy the parts (we'll be generous and say they are put together in that cost but there are no warranty, no OS, no apps, no etc.). It's like saying the value of something is no more than the cost of its component elements.

We know roughly how much it costs Apple to make and support iPhones. Apple as a whole has gross margins of around 39% (typically a little lower). This includes services, which have about 50-60% margins. Hardware has margins around 33%. New phones will have lower margins than existing phones, which will almost always have higher margins. This means iPhones have margins somewhere around 33% (gross and not net). If iPhone margins are not somewhere around 33% then Apple would have to have almost no margins on any other products to make their revenue and profit margins work. The safest assumption is therefore that Apple's iPhone margins are around 33% (then factor in taxes, etc. and they drop to low 20s)
 
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