Apple Trials AirPods Production in Vietnam in Bid to Cut Reliance on China

[MacRumors]

Apple will begin trialing AirPods production in Vietnam as part of a strategy to diversify product manufacturing beyond China, according to a new report by Nikkei Asian Review.

China's GoerTek, one of Apple's key contract manufacturers, will this summer begin testing the resilience of its manufacturing processes for the newest generation of AirPods at its audio factory in northern Vietnam, two sources with knowledge of the plan said.

The trial run will mark the first time Apple's hugely popular wireless earbuds have been produced outside China. According to the report, Apple has asked component suppliers to support Goertek's efforts, despite initially only green-lighting very small volumes of AirPods.

Apple has traditionally sourced its wired EarPods in Vietnam, but AirPods have so far been made exclusively in China by the likes of Inventec, Luxshare-ICT, and GoerTek. The move is said to be a consequence of Apple seeking to source 15 to 30 percent of its output outside of China, where cost and manpower advantages are beginning to fade.

Thanks to the continuing success of AirPods, Apple now dominates nearly 70 percent of the truly wireless headphone market. With Samsung, Huawei, Sony and Google bringing their own truly wireless headphones to market, global shipments of all wireless earbuds are forecast to surge from 48 million pairs in 2018 to 129 million pairs by 2020, according to Counterpoint.

Apple plans to release third-generation AirPods with water resistance in late 2019, according to multiple rumors. The first two generations of AirPods do not have IP-rated water or dust resistance, despite standing up to water exposure well.

In March 2019, Apple launched its second-generation AirPods powered by an Apple-designed H1 chip, enabling hands-free "Hey Siri" functionality and up to 50 percent more talk time compared to the original AirPods. The second-generation AirPods feature the same outward design as the original.

In April, reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said two new AirPods models will likely go into mass production between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, with one of the new models featuring an "all-new form factor design" and a "higher price" than the second-generation AirPods, which start at $159.

Article Link: Apple Trials AirPods Production in Vietnam in Bid to Cut Reliance on China

 

[Kabeyun]

Apple is going to “cut reliance on China” by continuing to have a Chinese company manufacture AirPods. Heh.

 

[ksec]

So its AirPod OEM from China decide to have some of its production in Vietnam.

 

[M2M]

So basically it’s a suppliers move to work around the trade war. Border between (North) Vietnam and (South) China in Yunnan is also easy enough to cross to ship stuff from production site A to B as necessary for financial reasons.

 

[Aluminum213]

How about build them in the good ol capitalism loving USA lol

 

[Hazmat401]

It would be nice to have a lot of those blue collar jobs in America.... this country is saturated with enough white collar job that the pay is getting a lot lower from what I saw

This country was built with working hands.... let working hands prosper in the tech industry

This really bothers me as a tax payer that this company gets a tax break at the expense of our backs

 

[code-m]

This country was built with working hands.... let working hands prosper in the tech industry

Can you provide an example of which country/ies were built without (hard) working hands

If you don’t like what is occurring, lobby, rally, petition, run for election, change the laws, boycott companies, etc. Writing on a tech forum is not helping your purpose other than temporary relief felt by voicing your opinion

To be fair many corporations are using taxation loopholes
[doublepost=1563369561][/doublepost]

How about build them in the good ol capitalism loving USA lol

One simply cannot say build something in XYZ country and it happens, where are most of the raw materials being shipped from.

At present a bulk of raw or processed materials are not being shipped to Asia from USA only to make goods to be shipped and sold in USA.

 

[rjp1]

One simply cannot say build something in XYZ country and it happens, where are most of the raw materials being shipped from.

At present a bulk of raw or processed materials are not being shipped to Asia from USA only to make goods to be shipped and sold in USA.

Imagine if Apple had cash on hand to invest in America. Oh wait.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

How about build them in the good ol capitalism loving USA lol

Any why would any company do this other than to get a “made in USA” label? There are no good incentives. Ironically it’s this love of capitalism that moves manufacturing to other counties.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Imagine if Apple had cash on hand to invest in America. Oh wait.

I’m sure money can solve the issue of finding a large number of workers willing to work at the required level for electronics manufacturing at half the minimum wage for not just the end products but also the parts.

 

[code-m]

Imagine if Apple had cash on hand to invest in America. Oh wait.

Cash will burn quickly trying to make a point without government and industries supporting those efforts. Look for example the trash can MP. All the money in the world is not magically transplant raw and processed metals in USA ground waiting for US companies to mine and extract.

There are so many pieces to the puzzle you are forgetting and commenting that cash will fix it is just naive.

 

[Mike MA]

Protection against Trumps foreign policy instead of Chinese dependencies it seems to me.

 

[rjp1]

I’m sure money can solve the issue of finding a large number of workers willing to work at the required level for electronics manufacturing at half the minimum wage for not just the end products but also the parts.

They shouldn’t be paying people half minimum wage, nor minimum wage. Pay them a living wage.

It is not any better that they are paying such low wages to workers in another country.

If they want to benefit from selling to US citizens goods, then they should be making their products here.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

They shouldn’t be paying people half minimum wage, nor minimum wage. Pay them a living wage.

It is not any better that they are paying such low wages to workers in another country.

If they want to benefit from selling to US citizens goods, then they should be making their products here.

I mean half the US minimum wage. Lower cost of living = living wage is lower as well.
As for benefiting from selling to US citizens, American consumers are not special. The same argument can be made for EU consumers or Chinese consumers. Unless a company can get enough tax incentives or gets all less developed countries tariffed high enough to justify manufacturing in the U.S., there are no reason for them to do so.

 

[code-m]

I mean half the US minimum wage. Lower cost of living = living wage is lower as well.
As for benefiting from selling to US citizens, American consumers are not special. The same argument can be made for EU consumers or Chinese consumers. Unless a company can get enough tax incentives or gets all less developed countries tariffed high enough to justify manufacturing in the U.S., there are no reason for them to do so.

To people in the EU people in the US minimum wage is barely a livable wage