Comment by mb_72 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mb_72 | Hacker News Reader

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I'm not sure it's realistic for many or any countries to move manufacturing out of China. Say assembly is moved out of China, they still need to source the parts, and how far do you go with this? To the point where Apple is making, in their own factories, every resistor, capacitor, logic IC, ribbon connector, PCB etc? This would seem to require a reversal of the changes in manufacturing that have occurred over recent decades in a much shorter period of time.

I am no fan of China - in the news recently a couple of our politicians have been called out as having a 'cold war mentality' just because they pointed out there differences between Australian and Chinese values - but I have to keep using Apple devices to develop and support software for clients. Likewise, I bet no matter what Apple does there will be others who stick with them as a matter of commercial reality. 'Commercial reality' has been and will continue to be China's way to be a mandatory part of world events.

I agree with your points, but relying too much on one country or one supplier is actually not Apple’s style or preference. Now this large reliance on China seems to be restricting it in ways that aren’t what any company would choose. Samsung recently stopped manufacturing in China, though it still has a small market share there and will continue to sell its devices there.

When it comes to shifting manufacturing, it seems like the main lower cost choices are “worse” and “less worse”. The less worse choices may be other countries in Asia, each with its own drawbacks and baggage, like Vietnam, India, etc.

Why is not realistic? Just look at Samsung's Vietnam operation -- there are now over 200 suppliers who relocated and set up shops in Vietnam. There are also now at least dozens of domestic suppliers and contractors supplying parts for Samsung. Samsung is the largest producer of smartphones in the world and most of their mobile devices now come from Vietnam, contrary to Tim Apple's ridiculous claim that no large scale electronic production is possible outside China.

How many of those basic components still are manufactured in China? My argument was that it's impossible to remove China completely from the supply and manufacturing chain, not that it's impossible to move 'production' outside of China.

Aren't most of the phone components actually made outside of China? Iirc many by Samsung, actually. You can get basic electronic parts anywhere, I don't understand this odd believe that only China manufactures resistors and PCBs.

I'm guessing probably none today. The smartphone business is heavily commodified at this point and there is no "basic components" that be made exclusively only in China. As I noted earlier in my comment, there are over 200 suppliers and subcontractors who set up shops and make basic parts for Samsung in Vietnam. Further, none of the "key" components such as AP, memory, storage, wireless radio, display, or glass, is made in China. Lastly, considering South Korea's recent brouhaha over THAAD, no South Korean company wants any further economic risk from political conflict with China and have been severing their dependency on Chinese suppliers last two years.

Thank you for the extra information, looks like my info and hence opinion is not up-to-date.

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