Apple continues to geographically diversify its production chain outside of China, detailed the Nikkei Asia, citing India and Vietnam and it is no longer just for peripheral products or old ranges.
IPad production will start in Vietnam around the middle of this year, the daily said, a first for this range traditionally assembled in China. The latest iPhone family is expected to roll out of Indian factories before the end of this quarter (iPhone 11s were there assembled in 2020). In the case of India, it is also a question of producing on site to avoid taxes and of obtaining the right to develop a commercial presence in one’s own name (see The Apple Store opens in India on September 23). .
An increase in production capacities is also underway in South East Asia for HomePods, headphones as well as Macs. Suppliers in Vietnam have been called upon, for example, to improve the availability of HomePod mini (2 to 3 weeks of waiting on the Apple Store, however there is some stock at the resellers). This country produced the small speaker from its launch, nevertheless our two models indicate assembly in China.
Part of the Mac mini comes from Malaysia and while most Macs are still produced in China, part of the laptops should be entrusted to Vietnam. This country is not a newcomer, it appears 20 times in the list from Apple’s main suppliers (established for 2018, this is the latest). China occupied an overwhelming place – it is mentioned 381 times – but it shared with Malaysia (17 mentions), the Philippines (19), India (9), Indonesia (5), Cambodia (a ) and Taiwan (67).
In 2019, recalls the Nikkei Asia, Apple has asked several suppliers to study the feasibility of working outside of China and to estimate the costs for 15 to 30% of its production.
We were then in the midst of a trade contest between the United States and China. But even with the arrival of a new American administration, this movement, which involves long-term projects, should continue.
The AirPods, whose demand is extremely high (estimated at 90 million units per year) served as a test in the summer of 2019 and were produced in volume in 2020. Part of the manufacture of AirPods Pro, AirPods Max and of the HomePod mini was also entrusted to Vietnamese factories.
This installation in new countries is not without difficulty, it was the case in China a few years ago at Foxconn and we saw it very recently in India with the anger of workers at one of the suppliers of Apple.
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