Despite the U.S. government’s attempts to rein in Beijing’s tech ambitions, Apple is tapping more suppliers in China to produce the next-gen “iPhone 13,” a sign that the country’s technological competitiveness is continuing to increase.
Lauly Li and Cheng Ting-Fang for Nikkei Asia:
Chinese electronics maker Luxshare Precision Industry will build up to 3% of the upcoming iPhone 13 series, winning orders away from Taiwanese rivals Foxconn and Pegatron, Nikkei Asia has learned. Apple is slated to produce between 90 million and 95 million of the new iPhones through January.
Luxshare will start building the iPhone 13 Pro — as the premium model is expected to be called — this month, according to sources, a major breakthrough for a company that has never produced iPhones on its own. Newcomers to the Apple supply chain normally start out making older iPhone models…
Apple boasts the world’s most complex consumer electronics supply chain, churning out roughly 200 million iPhones, 20 million MacBooks and tens of millions of AirPods a year. The company’s notoriously high manufacturing standards mean that any company in its supply chain is seen as being among the best in its field.
The rise of Chinese Apple suppliers comes at the expense of rivals in the U.S., Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, several of whom are either seeing their share of orders shrink or who have dropped out of the Apple supply chain completely.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple cannot rely on one major supplier for anything. Competition drives down costs and keeps them low, so the more qualified suppliers Apple has to choose from and enter into competition with major suppliers and assemblers like Foxconn, the more honest major suppliers and assemblers have to be with their pricing.