“Lined up with military precision, hundreds of employees wait to make iPhones at one of the most secretive factories in the Apple production line,” Simon Tomlinson reports for The Daily Mail. “Dressed in pink jackets, blue hairnets and plastic slippers, the workers have their ID badges scanned on an iPad by a supervisor at morning roll call.”
“From there, they make their way in single file to the assembly line but not before undergoing facial recognition checks at security turnstiles to clock in,” Tomlinson reports. “Pegatron Corp employs up to 50,000 people to assemble iPhones at its plant in Shanghai which covers an area the size of 90 football fields.”
Tomlinson reports, “Until now, the factory’s inner workings have been a closely guarded secret.”
A multitude of photos of people lining up for a days work here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple iPhone assemblers are paid far better and work in far better/safer conditions than the average factory worker in China.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
This is a strong Orwellian vision…
The times of the following advertisement are looooong gone:
Speaking of the Chinese:
LeEco CEO Jia Yueting says Apple is outdated
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/24/leeco-ceo-jia-yueting-says-apple-is-outdated.html
“The iPhone was still a leader five years ago after being launched in 2008 but now the concept has ‘fallen behind,’ he said.”
“Ironically, Apple’s over-dominance, lack of internet-thinking and the closed off nature of its systems, all hindered innovation in the internet mobile industry.”
Analysis: true.
Real life analysis: heard it all before, (repeat 20 times)
Well, if he says it, then it must be true!
I even took a minute to read the article, and it is borderline absurd.
It didn’t prevent Fandroids from piling on in the comments…
Androids users, particularly Fandroids, need to come to terms with the fact that their OS and phones was basically stolen by Google / Eric T. Mole. Samsung took the admiration even further. With a start like that, it is very difficult to make a convincing argument that you are anything but derivative. Case closed.
In terms of advancement, it is easier to incrementally update a design than to come up with an innovation in the first place. Samsung has made a business out of latching onto designs from other companies, and they have some skill in taking those designs forward. I will admit that Samsung has made some progress in areas in which it attempted to differentiate itself from Apple. For instance, AMOLED displays and water resistance. I prodded Apple on this issue of water resistance for years and, now, Samsung is bludgeoning Apple with commercials on this topic. Apple should never have ceded the high ground on this feature to Samsung.
But outdated? That is ridiculous. Apple is certainly no more “outdated” than Android phones, and it is easy to make arguments that Apple still holds advantages in several areas, despite the fact that it is Apple against Alphabet/Google plus Samsung and many other companies put together. Apple’s ecosystem remains superior. No one else can touch the Apple A-series SoC. Apple’s security features are superior, including the secure enclave and full encryption. Most of the “advances” from Samsung and others have been simple engineering efforts – larger size, speakers, wireless charging, etc. – not true innovation or even particularly difficult incremental advancements. But you are welcome to your opinions, even if they reek strongly of anonymous troll.
I was responding to George, btw. It appears that I clicked on the wrong “reply” link judging from the indentation.
I love Apple and the iPhone but it is very reminiscent of the Super Bowl ad.
I’m not saying that factory work is happy work, but keep in mind that it is not in the Chinese culture to be smiling all the time.
Typical of all big factories in China.
Is it a human rights violation to make guys wear pink? 😉
Many people seem to compare this with slavery, totalitarian regimes, Orwelian distopia…
I don’t really know what do people expect to see in a massive factory manufacturing millions of iPhones. Exactly HOW would they propose such massive, efficient and precise operation be handled?
It continues to be mildly annoying that the discussion about slave-like conditions, low wages, high overtime, suicide rates, continue to be pinned to Apple. While nobody is trying to argue that these are not factories making stuff for Apple, one must be reminded that these factories also make devices for Samsung, and we all know that Samsung makes/sells many more devices than Apple. It is curious how never ever has Samsung been mentioned within the context of working conditions at its Chinese smartphone factories.
Unfortunately, when you are the top dog, hoarding 90% of profits in your industry, you get the biggest, strongest spotlight in your face, and everybody else, including the No. 2 guy, gets to hide behind you, in your shadow…
“hoarding 90% of profits”….. OK, so if you work smart and hard to make profits,,,, you should give it away????
Please list the other 20 large commercial companies doing this in the world. ………. crickets………. Thank you.
You are pretty much saying exactly what I said. Apple is the only company in the world able to keep such massive profit margins. They hoard 90% of profits in the mobile phone market, while Samsung and the rest make sliver on their devices. This ability makes them the biggest company in the world by market cap, and because of that, they attract the most attention of everyone. Unfortunately, this is the price you pay for being number one.
It’s not Apple’s fault that no one else is making a profit.
Oh, and I’m not sure why are you asking me to list 20 companies doing what Apple does. Or suggest that Apple give their profit away. That makes no sense.
I think the poster was referring to your pejorative term hoarding. Apple decided to only play in the part of the market where they can make a healthy profit. That’s not bad, it’s smart.