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posted by janrinok on Tuesday January 29 2019, @11:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the screwed! dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

A Tiny Screw Shows Why iPhones Won't Be 'Assembled in U.S.A.'

In China, you will also find one of Apple's most important markets, and over the last month the risks that come with that dependence have become apparent. On Jan. 2, Apple said it would miss earnings expectations for the first time in 16 years, mostly because of slowing iPhone sales in China. On Tuesday, the company is expected to reveal more details about its financial results for the most recent quarter and its forecast for the coming year.

In 2012, Apple's chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, went on prime-time television to announce that Apple would make a Mac computer in the United States. It would be the first Apple product in years to be manufactured by American workers, and the top-of-the-line Mac Pro would come with an unusual inscription: "Assembled in USA."

But when Apple began making the $3,000 computer in Austin, Tex., it struggled to find enough screws, according to three people who worked on the project and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements.

In China, Apple relied on factories that can produce vast quantities of custom screws on short notice. In Texas, where they say everything is bigger, it turned out the screw suppliers were not.

Tests of new versions of the computer were hamstrung because a 20-employee machine shop that Apple's manufacturing contractor was relying on could produce at most 1,000 screws a day.

The company could face more financial pressure if the Trump administration places tariffs on phones made in China — something the president has threatened to do.


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  • (Score: 2) by Spamalope on Tuesday January 29 2019, @04:41PM (1 child)

    by Spamalope (5233) on Tuesday January 29 2019, @04:41PM (#793608) Homepage

    You're likely to get crap if you don't have any power to get satisfaction for defects.
    Personal relationships matter more there, so arms length transactions increase the odds of having trouble.
    Quality though? High quality stuff can absolutely be made there, just not for pennies.

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  • (Score: 2) by Rich on Tuesday January 29 2019, @05:41PM

    by Rich (945) on Tuesday January 29 2019, @05:41PM (#793634) Journal

    In case of the Shenzhen prototyping houses, that power is the spread of word on the internet. If they deliver crap often enough, respected forum residents between eevblog and mikrocontroller.net will write about it and then they're done. On the other hand, if they've been around long enough (and reported screwups, if any, look like the customer's fault rather than theirs), I guess one can't go wrong with them with anything that's properly specified. The price for that is that prices approach western levels, as opposed to hinterland sweatshops. Also, the large Shenzhen houses will diligently coordinate with you where they source original components and where they use a budget house brand (that, at their level of exposition will have to be as good as the large brands anyway). I don't think they could cheat with cheaping out (beyond using same quality nightshift runs), because their reputation would be instantly done if a blogger puts up a picture story like "ElewayPCB in Shenzhen shipped these fake Bourns trimmers". You do pay manufacturer list price for originals, or even slightly more, though.