Apple's Secrecy Standards Complicate iPhone 14 Production in India

[MacRumors]

Apple will begin iPhone 14 production in India about two months after the first wave of devices are released out of China as manufacturing partners try to replicate the complex iPhone supply chain operation in another country for the first time.

Bloomberg reports that Apple has been working with suppliers to ramp up manufacturing in India and "shorten the lag in production of the new iPhone from the typical six to nine months for previous launches, according to people familiar with the matter."

However, Apple and primary iPhone assembler Foxconn have "ultimately determined a simultaneous start in India and China isn't realistic this year, although it remains a long-term goal," according to the report's sources.

Apple is said to be seeking alternatives to China amid the country's clashes with the U.S. government and strict lockdowns that have disrupted supply chain operations. To that end, Foxconn has reportedly been studying the process of shipping components from China and assembling the iPhone 14 devices at its plant outside the southern Indian city of Chennai.

Aside from the massive issue of organizing coordination between hundreds of suppliers, one of the big challenges the manufacturer is said to have faced involves finding ways to maintain Apple's high standards for secrecy.

Local executives in India reportedly looked at the possibility of "entirely cornering off one of Foxconn's multiple assembly lines, sequestering workers and scrutinizing all possible ways in which the security around the device could be compromised."

Apple is also said to be concerned about Indian customs officials who often unseal packages to check if imported materials match their declarations, which could jeopardize the company's stringent product secrecy controls.

Given the high possibility of leaks and other operational challenges, Apple and Foxconn therefore have this year decided against a simultaneous launch in China and India, and the first iPhone 14 models from India are likely to be finished in late October or November, following the initial September release.

Apple is aiming to announce the iPhone 14 on Wednesday, September 7, with retail employees said to be preparing for a new product release on Friday, September 16, which suggests the new ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch models could see a release on that date. Apple plans to release a total of four ‌iPhone 14‌ models, including a 6.1-inch ‌iPhone 14‌, a 6.7-inch ‌iPhone 14‌ Max, a 6.1-inch ‌iPhone 14 Pro‌, and a 6.7-inch ‌iPhone 14 Pro‌ Max.


Article Link: Apple's Secrecy Standards Complicate iPhone 14 Production in India

 

[yellow8]

Logistic nightmare! Must be hard to pull off..

 

[d5aqoëp]

Custom officials will always check the consignment as almost every shipping company is guilty of frauds. Apple needs to work with custom officials and iron out any possible issues when it comes to part leaks.

 

[BootsWalking]

Apple is also said to be concerned about Indian customs officials who often unseal packages to check if imported materials match their declarations, which could jeopardize the company's stringent product secrecy controls.

Apple could confuse potential leakers by shipping tons of the same processors as last year's model, since nobody thinks Apple would charge $1,000 for a new phone with an older chip.

 

[bLackjackj]

Local executives in India reportedly looked at the possibility of "entirely cornering off one of Foxconn's multiple assembly lines, sequestering workers

Absolutely absurd! It's only a phone, not a product that is going to change the world as we know it. Sequestering workers? Are they supposed to not have contact with anyone for fear of revealing a smaller notch or x zoom. My goodness,..grow up!

 

[Will Tisdale 🎗]

The whole thing seems like a misplaced and ultimately futile effort for little benefit.

Everything leaks from the supply chain anyway.

You can’t have an incredibly popular product produced at the volumes that it is without leaks, and in all reality, everyone already knows that it’s only going to be a minor upgrade, because smartphone development has matured and slowed.

 

[CarlJ]

Apple is also said to be concerned about Indian customs officials who often unseal packages to check if imported materials match their declarations, which could jeopardize the company's stringent product secrecy controls.

Reminds me of a story that’s been going around programmer/sysadmin circles since time immemorial (in internet time, that’s since the 50’s/60’s) - I grabbed this copy from a 1991 Usenet posting:

I heard this story from someone who worked for a French company, they had a problem with a program on punched cards written for them by a US subsidiary. The programs never worked when loaded in France but the US systems house swore blind that they did at their end. Eventually, in exasperation, someone followed the working set of cards from the US to France. At French customs, they observed a customs official remove a few cards at random from the deck. Apparently, the French customs are entitled to remove a sample from any bulk item (such as grain), so a few cards from a large consignment shouldn't matter, should it?​

 

[petsk]

How about moving production to US and Europe instead and keep your little secrets.

 

[Da_Hood]

Tim's in for a culture shock if production slows when a 5 day international Test is played at

M. A. Chidambaram Stadium​

or even a Chennai Knights home game

 

[R!TTER]

There's no test around that area, the next test in that state is probably between India vs Australia in Feb/March next year.

 

[bluecoast]

I think that Apple's culture of secrecy is getting a bit silly when it's such a mega-corp. It's the behaviour of a cult rather than one of the biggest publicly traded companies in the world.

This culture started when Apple was far smaller in the 00s and the secrecy meant that the launch day impact gave them millions of $US free marketing.

Nowadays, people know most of the details of the iPhone before it comes out anyway (if you look hard enough).

I get that this secrecy culture will be important for new products - such as the Car and the AVR/VR products - but seriously: is there anyone in the world who is going to be surprised that Apple is going to launch new iPhones in September?

Anyone who is vaguely interested knows that there will be an iPhone 14 Plus and that the Pro models will have always on displays etc. etc.

And given Apple's size - and the importance of the iPhone in the wider culture - they're practically guaranteed wall to wall coverage on the day and the day after the iPhones are revealed, attempts at secrecy or not.

 

[cluster2600]

abbed this copy

How about moving production to US and Europe instead and keep your little secrets.

are you willing to pay the 30% price hike?

 

[ghanwani]

Very surprised they chose India over Vietnam or Mexico. Perhaps they didn’t get the memo that India is part of BRICS so definitely doesn’t go provide good enough diversification.

All Apple has going for it is supply chain efficiency. Hopefully inserting ads will cover the increased cost of production so that they can maintain their margins.

 

[Rychiar]

How about moving production to US and Europe instead and keep your little secrets.

You gonna pay for those phones?

 

[maxfromdenmark]

People talk. The only way to maintain secrecy is severance 😁

 

[1@@@]

You gonna pay for those phones?

Well... right now those phones are subsidised by the unnaturally low price of labour caused by massive poverty in India.

Wouldn't kill people in the west to have to pay more for their phones.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

are you willing to pay the 30% price hike?

Does it really matter? we pay a 30% price hike anyway.
iPhone went from 600 to 800$ and now it's 1000$. and we are looking at another increase soon enough anyway

 

[minimo3]

How about moving production to US and Europe instead and keep your little secrets.

Who exactly in the US or Europe is going to work at these factories, are you going to work there? We can’t even staff restaurants or airports. The waiter at my favorite Indian restaurant was running it solo and asked our table if anyone wanted to earn a few extra bucks by working there for $17/hour! Rationally, why work hard serving tables when door dashing pays up to $25/hour and you can pick your hours? No one is going to assemble phones for $15/hour, you’re gonna have to pay at least $30 to get someone to sit there for 8hours a day doing that kind of repetitive work if you can find someone with the dedication and fine motor skills required. By contrast Foxconn assembly line workers are paid around $3.20/hour. That doesn’t mean a phone is going to cost 10x more since assembly is only part of the cost and there are other elements like the BOM, distribution, R&D, SG&A, but a 20+% increase seems like in the ballpark.

 

[mectojic]

Wouldn’t the easiest way for Apple to protect secrecy be this: announce the product before it goes into production?

 

[Dark_Omen]

Who exactly in the US or Europe is going to work at these factories, are you going to work there? We can’t even staff restaurants or airports. The waiter at my favorite Indian restaurant was running it solo and asked our table if anyone wanted to earn a few extra bucks by working there for $17/hour! Rationally, why work hard serving tables when door dashing pays up to $25/hour and you can pick your hours? No one is going to assemble phones for $15/hour, you’re gonna have to pay at least $30 to get someone to sit there for 8hours a day doing that kind of repetitive work if you can find someone with the dedication and fine motor skills required. By contrast Foxconn assembly line workers are paid around $3.20/hour. That doesn’t mean a phone is going to cost 10x more since assembly is only part of the cost and there are other elements like the BOM, distribution, R&D, SG&A, but a 20+% increase seems like in the ballpark.

I don’t know about others, but a 20% price increase to bringing good paying jobs to the US isn’t a bad concept. You’re talking $200 on an iPhone that will last you 3-4 years. It beats the heck out of fast food companies raising their wages because they no longer hire just high schoolers and the elderly anymore.

 

[GumaRodak]

The only way how to understand india is to visit that place. good luck

 

[rpmurray]

Apple is also said to be concerned about Indian customs officials who often unseal packages to check if imported materials match their declarations ...

I don't think that's the reason they unseal packages.

 

[Wanted797]

Reminds me of a story that’s been going around programmer/sysadmin circles since time immemorial (in internet time, that’s since the 50’s/60’s) - I grabbed this copy from a 1991 Usenet posting:

I heard this story from someone who worked for a French company, they had a problem with a program on punched cards written for them by a US subsidiary. The programs never worked when loaded in France but the US systems house swore blind that they did at their end. Eventually, in exasperation, someone followed the working set of cards from the US to France. At French customs, they observed a customs official remove a few cards at random from the deck. Apparently, the French customs are entitled to remove a sample from any bulk item (such as grain), so a few cards from a large consignment shouldn't matter, should it?​

They didn’t number them 😅

 

[bLackjackj]

The whole thing seems like a misplaced and ultimately futile effort for little benefit.

Maybe Apple should hide the phone from Tim Cooke. I mean seriously, aren't we over the whole secrecy thing and can we please stop treating 'employees" like children.

 

[Zaft]

China sure loves lock downs… which no absolutely nothing…