If you have an iPhone in your hand, you probably don’t know the whole process that has had to go through to reach your home. Although it seems that the construction is simple, the truth is that it has quite a complication and must be started with enough time to spare. The question everyone can ask is … who makes the iPhone? What is your place of birth? In this article we try to answer all these questions.
Foxconn, responsible for all iPhone
The iPhone you are now using is primarily assembled by Foxconn, a company that has its headquarters in Zhengzhou, China. The location of this plant is considered to be like a small city since it has a large extension. Specifically, it has 5.6 square kilometers and employs more than 350,000 employees. Above all, the workforce is reinforced in the summer months, which is when production has to be much higher when new generation iPhones are launched on the market in September.
This is why the birthplace of iPhones is ultimately China. This is logical, since labor in this country is really cheap, earning only about $ 2 an hour. This is obviously inconceivable in other countries, such as Spain or the United States, but Apple looks a lot for its business economy like any other multinational.
Inside the factory there are almost 100 production lines whose main function is to carry out the last step of the assembly and testing of mobile devices. Multitudes of processes are carried out in the production chains, specifically more than 400 steps. The problem that employees in the production chain may encounter is that they have to perform highly repetitive tasks in the 12 hours of work they do daily in the plant. Each person is specialized in a specific point of production such as polishing the screen, placing a single screw or assembling a specific component to the motherboard. From the fruit of this work Foxconn is capable of producing more than 300 iPhones per minute in the plants, which transports almost half a million units in a single day at maximum production.
As we say, this complex has revitalized the local economy, making Zhengzhou the city of the iPhone. This is because all employees live in buildings near the factory. As a consequence of this growth, many entrepreneurs have opted to open businesses in this Chinese city where the vast majority of iPhones are born. The problem is that when you receive a package in your home, it may not appear as if it was sent from China, but from one of the many warehouses that Apple has on different continents. These act as distribution hubs for different countries and for all customers. But despite this, do not believe that your iPhone has been made in Holland or Milan, but has been assembled in China by Foxconn.
Apple Suppliers
Although Foxconn is always given the pleasure of being the official manufacturer of the iPhone, the truth is that its manufacture has many more extra steps. Foxconn only deals with the assembly and final testing of the equipment, gathering all the components that the rest of the brands manufacture. That is why in the end it is a set of manufacturers that are external to Apple that end up building the final iPhone.
Many companies participate in this process and the vast majority are known to all as they have a significant impact within the world of technology. Samsung for example is in charge of providing the OLED panels necessary for the latest iPhone models that include this screen. Although it can be believed that the relationship between these two companies is bad, behind the scenes they close agreements of this type to source components. TSMC is also a factory that has a relevant importance in the manufacture of iPhones, since it is in charge of the A series processors that Apple designs but does not build in its own factories.
Suppliers vary each year, although Apple is currently known to have more than 400 suppliers. Having so many participants in iPhone manufacturing is a problem in the end. If one fails to send a component, it may end up causing a delay in the manufacturing of the equipment that will affect delivery times. That is why in history we have seen significant delays such as the iPhone X since it does not depend on a single manufacturer. To be as transparent as possible, Apple has a document on its website where it shows all current providers.
Apple’s demands on production
Despite the fact that external companies provide components to the Cupertino company so that Foxconn can assemble its iPhones, the demands that Apple has on these are quite intense. In the website that they assign to supplier responsibility, they make it clear that their mission is to have the highest standards at all points of the production chain. This is achieved by doing different evaluations to suppliers to work with them so that all the standards imposed by Apple are guaranteed. Specifically, more than 1,000 evaluations are carried out on all suppliers in almost 50 different countries.
There are many controversies that have arisen over the possible exploitation that employees who manufacture iPhones may suffer. Apple has wanted to tackle all of these with different codes of conduct that must be met by suppliers. In addition, it is also about reducing the carbon footprint of each of the mobile devices with the installation of solar panels in the production chains or with the reduction of the use of conflicting minerals.