Apple to accelerate production relocation out of China

Apple in recent weeks has accelerated plans to move some production outside of China, which has long dominated the company's supply chain.

The company is asking suppliers to plan more assembly in other Asian countries, particularly India and Vietnam, and is also seeking to reduce its reliance on Taiwanese assemblers, the largest of which is Foxconn.

As explained by analysts and interlocutors in Apple's supply chain, China's status as a stable manufacturing center has been shaken by events this year. Protests erupted in the country at the end of November, with protesters demonstrating against strict covid restrictions, which are due to the government's "zero tolerance" policy on COVID-19. In particular, the Apple factory in Zhengzhou, which employs 300,000 people and once accounted for 85 percent of the iPhone Pro line, was hit by protests.

Experts stress: If countries such as India and Vietnam fail to meet efficiency targets, they will remain in second place. "Finding all the parts to build products at the scale Apple needs is not easy," said Keith Whitehead, a former Apple operations manager.

Earlier, it was reported that Apple could be short 6 million iPhone 14 Pro due to protests at the Foxconn plant in China. Appleinsider wrote that Apple could lose $8 billion due to problems in the production of the iPhone.