Apple appears to be moving a large portion of its manufacturing away from China due in part to trade tensions between the United States and the East Asian country. The California tech giant reportedly plans to move a more significant portion of its iPhone production to India, and a large portion of its iPad production, including the newest iPad Air, to Vietnam for the first time.
Back in 2019, Apple began producing a small amount of AirPod Pros in Vietnam to test the waters of expanding its manufacturing base outside of China. The trial seems to have gone well, as Apple has since ramped up AirPod production in Vietnam, producing the more expensive AirPod Max units in the country as well, and now plans to boost India's iPhone production and begin manufacturing iPads in Vietnam by the middle of 2021.
The move seems to be about the precarious trade relationship between the US and China that began under Former President Trump back in 2018 more than a desire to diversify manufacturing. While many are hopeful that the relationship between the two countries will get back on track now that Biden is President, Apple doesn't appear to want to take any unnecessary risks waiting for that to happen. With the enormous popularity of iPhones and iPads, and with the rumors swirling around about Apple potentially getting into the VR headset game, the company has to make sure things are running as smoothly as possible when it comes to manufacturing.
The good news is this likely means there will not be an iPad shortage should the US-China trade war continue or worsen. The bad news is that by moving manufacturing to India and Vietnam, both countries with woeful track records in terms of human rights and factory worker conditions, Apple seems to be in no hurry to make its overseas working conditions any better than what they are in China.
Unsurprisingly, Apple isn't alone in pulling large swaths of its manufacturing out of the communist country. Fellow tech companies like LG Electronics, which may be leaving the smartphone business for good, have also moved portions of their manufacturing to different countries, all in an effort to avoid US tariffs imposed on electronics imported from China due to the ongoing trade war.
While Samsung has made fun of Apple's decisions in ad campaigns in the past, the company is following suit in regards to Chinese production, moving its manufacturing to Vietnam as well. Indeed, with tensions between US and China still at a high, Apple likely won't be the last of the tech giants looking to move its factories to a different part of the globe.
Source: Nikkei