The U.S. Department of Commerce had early in July designated O-Film Group among a list of eleven Chinese companies that it accuses of taking part in human rights violations against the Uighur people, Chinese company O’Film Group has been kicked out of Apple’s camera module supply chain.
The exclusion of O-Film from Apple’s supply chain is expected to benefit LG InnoTek and Sharp, a rival camera module suppliers to Cupertino.
O-Film’s modules accounted for around mid-10% of those used by Apple in its smartphones. LG InnoTek’s account for some 50% and Sharp 30%.
The Chinese company will now likely only supply camera modules for legacy iPhones. It won’t be able to supply to newly launched iPhones.
LG InnoTek had supplied the triple camera and time of flight (ToF) module for iPhones 12 Pro and iPhones 12 Pro Max. The company will likely now also supply modules for lesser tier iPhones.
MacDailyNews Take: Excellent. Human rights abuses should not be tolerated.
Apple’s stuck between a rock and a hard place, but the good thing is that now that there are official sanctions against companies who have human rights abuses, Apple can simply go to China and say: “Sorry, nothing we can do… blame the US gov’t”
This is not a question of whether Apple WANTs to do the right thing or legally HAS to appease shareholders… I don’t know know which of those has more truth. It’s about knowing that the CCP actively and harshly punishes ANY company perceived to even SLIGHTLY say anything negative about the party.