Apple has reduced its dependence on China, according to a new report.
The COVID-19 pandemic and now the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has brought into question Apple’s overreliance on China for manufacturing, and as a result, the company has been working to reduce its reliance on the country. Indeed, even this week, it has been revealed that continued factory closures and strikes are costing Apple one billion dollars per week and have meant that Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are out of stock in the run-up to Christmas.
Although Apple has been expanding its production arms in other countries, reports suggest that 95% of iPhones still come from China, and 80% are manufactured from a single plant in Zhengzhou, known as iPhone City.
Recent challenges at the plant have meant that iPhone production has dropped to as little as 20% of its usual output, losing more than 20 million estimated units.
In recent years, Apple has begun investing in assembly plants in India, Vietnam, and Indonesia and has even vowed to bring some Mac production back to the United States following generous government tax incentives.
According to Reuters, Apple has reduced the percentage of its production sites in China from 47% to 36%.
Speaking of the news, Eli Friedman, an associate professor at Cornell University, said: “The China supply chain is not going to evaporate overnight. Decoupling is just not realistic for these companies for the time being.”
“Vietnam and India are not China. They can’t produce at that scale, at the quality and with the turnaround time, with the reliability of infrastructure,” he added.
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