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Iphone China Apple Technology

Apple Begins Assembling iPhone 11 In India (techcrunch.com) 104

Posted by BeauHD from the made-in-India dept.
Apple has begun assembling the current generation of iPhones in its plant near Chennai, India. TechCrunch reports: A small batch of locally manufactured iPhone 11 units has already shipped to retail stores, but the production yield is currently limited. Apple, in general, has ambitions to scale up its local production efforts in India. The local production of current iPhone 11 models illustrates Apple's further commitment to India, the world's second largest smartphone market, as it explores ways to cut its reliance on China, which produces the vast majority of iPhone models today. Apple's contract manufacturing partner, Taiwan-based Wistron, first began assembling older iPhone models in 2017. But until now, Apple has not been able to have an assembly partner produce the current generation iPhone model in India. Assembling handsets in India enables smartphone vendors -- including Apple -- to avoid roughly 20% import duty that the Indian government levies on imported electronics products. Foxconn, the manufacturing company Apple has partnered with to assemble the iPhone 11 units, plans to invest $1 billion in its operations in India.
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Apple Begins Assembling iPhone 11 In India More

Apple Begins Assembling iPhone 11 In India

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  • It's fucking 2020, the year 2000 was 20 years ago. Why aren't these things built entirely by robots in a lights-out factory? It's not like I'm asking for a flying car or fusion energy. Hmm ok, btw where are those?

    • Re:Robots (Score:5, Insightful)

      by NateFromMich ( 6359610 ) on Friday July 24, 2020 @09:15PM (#60328605)

      It's fucking 2020, the year 2000 was 20 years ago. Why aren't these things built entirely by robots in a lights-out factory? It's not like I'm asking for a flying car or fusion energy. Hmm ok, btw where are those?

      I can see you've never worked in a production facility.
      The thing is, it's extremely difficult to automate things. I know, I know, the media has convinced you otherwise, but the reality is that things aren't that simple.
      If you don't believe me, check out the massive problems Tesla had trying to automate the Tesla 3 factory and how even Elon Musk had to admit he was wrong about automation.

      • This is 2020 slashdot. While you occasionally encounter people with actual technical understanding, it's largely chock-full-o armchair pseudo-technicians that make perfect examples of the Dunning-Krueger effect.

        • Yet Sony managed it with the PS4... humans load the main boards into the line at the beginning and package the finished product and that's it.

          https://asia.nikkei.com/Busine... [nikkei.com]

          If apple had even a single eye towards optimizing their phones for robotic construction, I'll bet they could come pretty close to that. But as yet, they've been hooked on cheap labor.

          • Is there evidence of that? Gotta believe that there's a lot of automation mixed in, humans would destroy these tiny components too often.

            • Of course there's no evidence of that. This is all about his feelings about Apple and his feelings about automation. Never mind the fact that the PS4 and iPhone are radically different devices with very different materials, components, scales, finishes, sizes, etc. etc. etc.

    • Because they're building it in India, where they can pay a dollar two ninety eight an hour. It doesn't pay to buy expensive machines to replace what is essentially slave labor.

      Want to build it with robots? Build it in the USA, where workers expect $25 - $45 / hr. Then it pays to buy expensive machines to allow a single worker to simulate 25 of them.

      • St. Jobs and St. Cook already explained why it is impossible to build iPhone in the USA. US workforce lazy, unskilled, incompetent, greedy. Case closed.

        • Because Caucasians are just too damn tall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

          • That's Sony, sorry. Apple said, according to NYT:

            The challenges in Texas illustrate problems that Apple would face if it tried to move a significant amount of manufacturing out of China. Apple has found that ... the United States ... can not match China’s combination of scale, skills, infrastructure and cost.

            Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/0... [nytimes.com]

          • They're just holding it wrong.

    • Because Indians are cheaper. And if one is faulty, you just throw it away and get a new one for free, unlike robots that you have to repair or buy a new one.

    • Because it's not yet the year 2090, and humans can still do things that machines can't.

  • It would be interesting to hear how well this plant goes. Efficient manufacturing is not something that every country can successfully pull off. That's why China cannot successfully duplicate everything the Germans and the Japanese make because the cultural mindset of their workforce are just not the same. In China, some assembly tasks are not just cheaper but are more accurate when performed by a human over being performed by a robot arm.

    • Efficient manufacturing is not something that every country can successfully pull off.

      Fortunately these phones aren't being built by a country, but rather by a company that knows what it's doing.
      Unless you were suggesting that the people themselves somehow aren't cut out for the monotonous factory work that pretty much anyone could do.

      • Fortunately these phones aren't being built by a country, but rather by a company that knows what it's doing.

        Yep. Foxconn knows how to exploit workers like no other.

  • Foxconn is assembling iPhones in India for Apple. Let's at least try to be accurate.

  • The CCP picked up where the Nazis, Stalin and Mao left off.

    Any western CEO that builds stuff in China or does business there should be cancelled just like the Confederates.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DogDude ( 805747 )

      The CCP picked up where the Nazis, Stalin and Mao left off.

      Any western CEO that builds stuff in China or does business there should be cancelled just like the Confederates.

      Our entire economy is built upon Chinese labor. Your suggestion would make this little Trump Depression look mild by comparison.

    • And instead build the stuff in ... India? Vietnam? Some country in Africa?

      What exactly is the difference to you? You thought that closing down imports from China brings back jobs to the US, didn't you? Didn't you? Oh please. Before that happens, you have to play whack-a-mole with all of south east Asia, Africa and maybe the Middle East.

  • They won't be shifting manufacturing to the United States. No tariffs.

  • I can see it now, people saying, 'Enough being poor in the West, I am going to make my fortune in India making I-Phones', 'I am going to get rich in the Philippines making watches for Timex!', 'I'm gonna make it big in Bangladesh making clothes for The Gap!', 'I'm gonna assemble MacBook Pro's in China! Living large!'. I mean, when you think timepieces, the Philippines comes to mind, first. Or Lego and Mexico, it's such a logical combination. Where people are paid fair wages and not worked to death. These co

    • While working in shit work conditions is uncool; taking advantage of cheaper labor due to costs of living is not too egregious. Even in consulting gigs if I charge $150/hr for high level dialplan programming for call centers, and some dude in India tries to undercut me at $50/hr I have to usually explain that there are two factors in that equation. Unlike replacing an ignition coil on your car, there is no set book on time for a particular task. So if I take 15min to do something remotely, and the other guy

      • While working in shit work conditions is uncool; taking advantage of cheaper labor due to costs of living is not too egregious.

        It's self-defeating. If all the jobs leave, how will people be able to afford to buy stuff?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by e3m4n ( 947977 )

          thats inevitably the problem with global economies, but even within the US the same arguments could be made. Why in the world would someone want to locate their business in california? They over regulate, red tape out the ass which amounts to more expenses, the cost of living is the highest in the US, wages are equally as high due to the cost of living. Whereas if you take some rural town in the midwest, they usually cut you a break for having your factory there, wages are generally half of wages in CA, ho

      • Great, then you have no problem moving to a sweatshop the Philippines and making watches to survive as opposed to 'making a living'. That's cool that you can be austere like that. Another case in point is Mexico, where workers earn a paltry few dollars a week for hard labour, even when you factor cost of living. But again, you have no problem moving to Mexico and living under those same conditions. Hey, lower cost of living, right?

        • If $7/hr somewhere else gets them the exact same lifestyle that $25/hr does in the US, then its not a problem. People like you seem to bitch, but Ive never seen you say - you know what? I really should be paying $300/mo for my phone bill. My smartphone was too cheap, It really should cost $2700.

          Every single thing you buy is roughly 60% less than the cost it would be if every single aspect of that business was using equipment entirely made in the US. Your networking equipment? made overseas. Your servers? O

          • I had to laugh when I read your response. It shows ignorance. Let me help you out a little, the wages have NOTHING to do with cost of living in these poorer countries. Absolutely nothing. It has everything to do with the absence of labour protections. For instance, in the US, if you pay workers below a minimum wage, there are penalties. The countries where labour is offshored, there are no penalties. The workers are not paid a living wage. Do you know what a living wage is? Something you can live on. These

            • Says the guy responding on his smartphone made by slave labor. Put your money where your mouth is. Destroy your cable modem, your wifi router, your laptops. All made on the backs of teenagers being called unpaid interns in china. I dont see you telling your ISP that you wont buy from them until their CPE is made here in the US. Good luck with that. ISPs are in the biggest demand to buy the cheapest CPE they can to avoid passing the cost onto the consumer, and consumers often break their CPE. The very intern

              • Nice logic, or rather a lack thereof. IBM helped facilitate the Jewish holocaust, therefore it is acceptable? Well, at least you acknowledge that products we use come from slavery. It does not have to be this way. Now join us and do something about it already! Stop being an apologist for the 'cost of living' lie. Best part is, your lies and delusions are documented. : - )

  • I'm curious as to how customs draw the lines on the definition of 'made in' vs 'assembled in' for tax purposes. What keyword would that fall under?

    • When a product goes through a supply chain and several stages of manufacturing, and if the manufacturing is split b/w several countries, the country where final assembly takes place is the country that the 'Made in' label refers to. I found this out particularly in semiconductors: you could fab in Japan, assemble in the Philippines and test and mark in Taiwan: in that case, it would say 'Made in Taiwan'.

  • Cant we throw africa a damn bone here? Surely there are people capable of this sort of work on that continent. I am fairly sure one of the reasons there is so much unrest there is due to everyone being poor as shit with no job to work.

  • and made in India and not by underage slaves in China.

  • India needs to reduce it's population.

    I'm sure theincreased suicide rate will help with that.

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