Apple switching to Chinese suppliers for cheaper iPhone components

22 August 2018
Working with Taiwanese manufacturers is proving to be more expensive for the US company.

Sort by:

  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • SaJ
  • 25 Aug 2018

Tariffs. The US will soon put tariffs on those Chinese components of the Apple phones.

    Droidtard, 22 Aug 2018Not so good camera? Its on the top 5 best camera on a smart... moreI care more about details being preserved in a photo. Have you ever zoomed in at 100% on a photo from the one-of-top-5 phone? It applies noise reduction even on photos shot in bright sunlight! And no way of turning this off unless you go the annoying way of shooting in RAW with a third party app.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • MwH
      • 24 Aug 2018

      pl2rts, 23 Aug 2018Sorry but Apple R&D is just same. Copy design elements ... moreThat's Braun, and Braun doesn't make mobile phones.

      Getting inspiration from different products and design languages in order to make a totally new and totally different product is called 'getting inspiration' and it requires a large amount of resources and great designers and engineers to create.
      Whereas creating a slightly different version of the same product is called 'design stealing' and requires very few resources to make.

      So yes, Apple created the designs that everyone today copies. (the phone shape, screen size, component arrangement, user interface, user experience, etc.) And everything others needed to do is take those and create their variations of it.

      As an analogy, the person who visits 10 locations and then goes to their studio and paints a surrealistic combination of those 10 places over the course of 6 months, is called a creator.
      Then, once that painting is complete and displayed to the public, a less imaginative and less skilled painter can take a photo of it and go back to their studio and paint 90% the same picture in the course of two weeks. That is called design stealing.

      For example, Van Gogh took weeks/months/years to create some of his famous paintings and he also created his own style and looks. And today there are Chinese painters who paint 5-10 replicas of those same paintings, with the same style and colours EACH DAY. And they sell them at less than $10 per piece.

      I know it's hard to imagine and understand creative processes, but they cost a lot and require a great deal of time to create. Whereas taking a ready-made design and altering it in order to look slightly different from the original requires few resources and takes only a fraction of the time.

        Anonymous, 23 Aug 2018Other companies (copycats) don't have to invest much into R... moreSorry but Apple R&D is just same. Copy design elements from Brawn and so on. They copy everything and make it a trend then sue everyone that wants to join that trend. Apple have always copied others but blinded fanboys just dont accept it and if apple copies someone then they are innovative

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • MwH
          • 23 Aug 2018

          pl2rts, 22 Aug 2018Sliding 5 years on one design is great R&D that fanboys... moreOther companies (copycats) don't have to invest much into R&D because they just copy the designs, shapes, features, component positioning, and other ideas from other companies. Basically reverse-engineering original products, adding their touches to them, and selling them as new products. That's why they're cheaper.

          When the first hovercars will be released on the market, there will be one company to produce them (the pioneer company). Then 1-2 years after that, there will be at least one more company making hovercars, all at a lower price than the original one (because they reverse-engineer the original and they adjust it to make it a little bit different) so you will have the same scenario as with Apple and the rest of smartphone makers.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • pkH
            • 23 Aug 2018

            pda96, 22 Aug 2018The much hyped iPhone quality will soon go down. You can b... moreRight, the quality was never too high.
            Also the switch to the low price suppliers will bring them more profit. The price on the devices will not go down.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • mJw
              • 23 Aug 2018

              Apple wants to steel people's money. No iPhone for me. Android is my favorite. Funny and advanced.

                Anonymous, 23 Aug 2018Crimea chosen to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a 2... moreI am sorry for you as you seem to be brain washed by Russian media as most of the Russians. There was time in Russian history when they killed off most of there inteligent people just cause they were a threat as a people who can think and are hard to manipulate. Like the orange and black lines you guys love there and wear these ribbons that were Tsar medal ribbon in the times when the Tsar was most hated. You guys dont know your own history even. If something from history suits for the goal of today your government will rewrite it to suit with the needs of today. It's same with the statue that was moved in Estonian center city to semetary and Russians were rioting the city cause of that while the statue was of a man who slathered civilians for both sides and again Russian media made it some kind of a war hero.

                  • K
                  • Kangal
                  • RN8
                  • 23 Aug 2018

                  kiasunkiasi, 22 Aug 2018China started the trade war? what weed are you smoking dude... moreLoving the comments, keep em coming.

                  I'm not stating things because I'm a Trump-apologist. Nope, can't stand the guy. I judge him based on his actions as a Politician, and not on his personal actions... because I don't care about how many prostitutes he deals with as that does not affect me. I care about what his policy does and will do to the economy and people's liberty. I simply refuse to get lied to and bickering by flawed and biased left-wing media. That goes for stupid right-wing media too.

                  Besides, I don't even live in USA... so everyone's assumption here was wrong.
                  The fact is we are heading into war, a war of economies between China and USA and it is said to come to melting point at 2025 based on Xi Jinping's comments.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • sAI
                    • 23 Aug 2018

                    pl2rts, 22 Aug 2018I think he meant Crimea that Russia took by force. And No c... moreCrimea chosen to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a 2014 referendum, not by force

                    funny when non pro west exercise their rights, it's view as unlawful, and when Barcelona did voted to be independent from Spain, it's immediately shot down as it's the right way to deny Barcelona's chosen path... all because Spain is pro west

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • sAI
                      • 23 Aug 2018

                      Anonymous, 22 Aug 2018Yes, but when you pay for a device, you don't just buy the ... moreI call it bull crap and you pulled these numbers out of your own imagination unless you can justify and prove them

                      Apple earning $50 from a $1k phone, yeah right, so they print their own money of absurd cash reserve of $285.1 billion as reported by CNBC on 01-Feb-2018 (which stands at $267.2 billion on 01-May-2018)

                        Genius business thinking by Apple, that's how they made it to $1 trillion dollars.

                        Going with cheaper and crappier parts to keep prices low and profit margins as high as possible, then charging customers tons of $$$ for repairs and aftersales service. Investors are loving this!

                        Such genius!

                        /s

                          • H
                          • Hammed
                          • jJL
                          • 23 Aug 2018

                          pda96, 22 Aug 2018The much hyped iPhone quality will soon go down. You can b... moreRead about "Made in china 2025" policy

                            Anonymous, 22 Aug 2018$250 research and development = is invested for future iPho... moreSliding 5 years on one design is great R&D that fanboys are happy to pay for. You can explain it like you like it the best. I am not sold on it to buy apple products and pay 3 times over just cause it's apple

                            Especially when other brand dont ask money for there devices and include all of that R&D cost and other things in there products. These cost come from other places. It should be investment and not ask from customers that money

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • m%5
                              • 22 Aug 2018

                              pl2rts, 22 Aug 2018$250 research and development For every device from peop... more$250 research and development = is invested for future iPhones which are not designed yet. Since R&D is actually done in the US by teams of highly skilled and thus highly paid engineers and experts and all of them need to be paid for 1 year out of the currently released phone + pay for the materials and resources they use, equates to roughly $250. The best of the best designers and engineers that get to work at Apple are in the top 3% income of the population. Having the best of the best comes at a big price. Ahem... salary.

                              $50 packaging, shipping and distribution; not just packaging. There is the transport by cargo ships, trucks, planes, the warehouses, the customs taxes, logistics - they all need to be paid for.

                              $30 for customer support - that means there are teams of people who are answering calls and providing support 24/7, and you dont have to wait for hours until someone picks the phone. And your emails get answered. It does not mean you get a battery replacement or something else for that money. It just means that you pay for the support teams to be there, at any time of day and night, whenever you need them. And this $30 covers the whole warranty period.

                                • p
                                • pda96
                                • 0fv
                                • 22 Aug 2018

                                The much hyped iPhone quality will soon go down. You can bet on it! Mind you, it was never that high to begin with.

                                  Koala, 22 Aug 2018What the hell are you talking about? Ukraine is an independ... moreI think he meant Crimea that Russia took by force. And No country of what i know were in USSR by choice.

                                    Anonymous, 22 Aug 2018Yes, but when you pay for a device, you don't just buy the ... more$250 research and development

                                    For every device from people is a bit much.

                                    $50 packaging, shipping and distribution
                                    $30 for 24/7 customer support

                                    Package is made out of paper and thats not so expensive and cost goes down by numbers. Packaging cant be that much for customer who will either throw it away after he/she have got the device out of it.
                                    30 for customer support will be as soon as you go to there shop and want support. If you need battery change you need to pay for it and itt wont go under guarantee when it's over. They ask cash from every step you make and thats not even included in there price of a device. I have had ipod's and i have changed batteries for them and went trough all of that.

                                    After you have your device with high price you dont get free support or support that was inside your device price tag.

                                      Bewildered , 22 Aug 2018The Mate 20 has not even been released yet FYI Apple a... more1 000.000.000 is billion. You need to add more zeros when you want to show off that you know how many zeros trillion have :D

                                      Edit:
                                      Sorry didnt see you made another comment on that to fix it

                                        Droidtard, 22 Aug 2018Apple's quality getting low? iPhone X has the most premium ... moreThanks to it's price it has placebo effect on you. In one of the brain hacking shows in Discovery channel they had a test on people with 2 cakes that were same. One was priced 100 dollars and other 10 dollars and everyone liked the 100 dollar one and said the 10 dollar version was not good and taste weird. It's same with your most premium feeling too!

                                          1 of 4