Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Glimpse at iPad factory
- Thread starter seadragon
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That's a pretty cool look in to what happens for each iPad.
After reading here for the last few weeks I'm curious to see what people say about the screen QA towards the end of the video.
The whole process and economics of it all is really quite fascinating.
After reading here for the last few weeks I'm curious to see what people say about the screen QA towards the end of the video.
The whole process and economics of it all is really quite fascinating.
Very interesting to see them test the iPad displays using a variety of different tests with someone checking it, and yet so many reports of display issues.
I am going to assume they either don't do this to every iPad, or the benchmark for iPad display quality is low.
I am going to assume they either don't do this to every iPad, or the benchmark for iPad display quality is low.
I would hope they use a spyder like device to read the iPad display but it looks like, from that ridiculously small amount of time on the video, that it's human eyes that judge the panel's display properties.
I wonder if anything goes in to pass/failing an iPad, like do they get paid for each unit produced and would failing a display not bode well for them? This is all entirely speculation, in an economy that tight with so many looking for work though, I have to wonder if I want to be the guy who puts the iPad in the fail pile.
They (The display manufacturers) will be under huge pressure to fulfil orders, so chucking out a load of ipads because of slight variations in display temperature and backlight bleeding (Which is evident on practically every display in existence) would be costly, reduce the amount of ipads, and lower the amount for everyone, which reduces profits significantly.
When you are mass manufacturing the latest tech such as retina display, there are bound to be issues with quality - the problem is they probably can't afford to chuck away as many iPads with bad screens as Apple would probably like to if they didn't have profits to make and shareholders to please. Not to mention the millions of people wanting one.
The new retina display costs $60. Probably only 1/4 of them are absolutely perfect. So if only 1 in 4 displays is useable, you have to chuck the other 3 away. But you have already paid for those 3 displays, so you'd have to add on 3 x $60 worth of display to every iPad atleast.
Would certain people that work in photography or the media industry, or just wealthy people, be interested in paying a $200 premium, for a special version of the new iPad with much more stringent tolerances on display quality ? probably.
When you are mass manufacturing the latest tech such as retina display, there are bound to be issues with quality - the problem is they probably can't afford to chuck away as many iPads with bad screens as Apple would probably like to if they didn't have profits to make and shareholders to please. Not to mention the millions of people wanting one.
The new retina display costs $60. Probably only 1/4 of them are absolutely perfect. So if only 1 in 4 displays is useable, you have to chuck the other 3 away. But you have already paid for those 3 displays, so you'd have to add on 3 x $60 worth of display to every iPad atleast.
Would certain people that work in photography or the media industry, or just wealthy people, be interested in paying a $200 premium, for a special version of the new iPad with much more stringent tolerances on display quality ? probably.
They probably have quotas...flag too many and you're being too picky...don't flag enough and you're not doing your job.
Not trying to defend bad QC here, but most "scrapes and debris issues" go unnoticed by the vast majority of Apple's customers. And even those who do notice don't do anything about it. My iPad 2 had a hairline scratch and dust under the screen right out of the box. Thought about exchanging it, but didn't because the scratch didn't bother me and the dust wasn't visible unless the screen was off and I looked really closely (in which case I noticed there was also dust in the iPad 1 that I'd happily used for over a year).
Apple figures a certain percentage of customer returns/exchanges into their projections. Major defects aside, they're not going to ramp up QC staff just to make sure every single device that comes off the manufacturing line is completely flawless. They COULD do that, but then you probably wouldn't like the price increase.
What gets me about the screen tint issue though, is that I'd think they'd be inspecting the screens before they even get to Foxconn. The checks at Foxconn should just be to ensure that all components work properly after being assembled. I'm sure Apple must have QC staff at Samsung's panel manufacturing plants. Why aren't these issues being picked up there?
Still waiting to see this "outcry" of bad displays. I continue to only hear or see of it on here.
I would! I went 5 times to the local apple store to get a decent one. I really could spent my time otherwise...
They are shipping 160,000 units a day. It would surprise me if there were no quality escapes.
It's also being reported on Apple's own support web site. > 360 replies and 38,000 views on this one thread alone.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3810949?start=330&tstart=0
----------
The total cost of the final assembly of an iPad is ~ $10. I would pay an extra $.50 for better QC. I would also pay an extra $1 on top of the ~ $87 it cost for material and labor to manufacture the retina display module.
I thought the whole process was inclosed in a single building including the living quarters for the people who work there. It would make security much more easy.
Still far from the outcry people make it to be on here. Being that there's 360 replies, a lot of posts from the same users. Sure there's other topics too and I'm sure some are from here also.
Also for the quantity they ship this is probably like a 1% issue with 0.2% facing actual defects
We will probably never know the extent of the screen issues because Apple never releases that kind of info. It could 1%; it could be > 50% (but only x% notice/report the problem). The only thing we can do is infer how significant the problem is by analyzing various clues. Here's one; March sales were less than demand due to retina screen yield issues.
http://9to5mac.com/2012/04/09/1000-...arned-in-asia-on-the-next-iphone/#more-159194
During our meetings, we walked away with the impression that production of Apple’s new iPad would have been higher during the March quarter if not for yield issues at panel makers driven by the new retina display that created a bottleneck in the supply chain.
that video was really interesting. I like how Foxconn has "amenities" for its workers, but seeing that enormous screen overlooking the soccer field was creepy--how much more big-brother can you get? my first reaction was the irony of Apple's manufacturer resembling Apple's own 1984 ad.