Apple’s efforts to move iPhone assembly to India and Vietnam are reportedly being hampered by the Chinese government.
The iPhone-maker wants to increase the number of countries in which its products are assembled amidst a worsening U.S./China trade war.
China wants to keep iPhone assembly
Years ago, Apple relied almost entirely on China to assemble iPhones, MacBooks, etc. Then the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted Chinese assembly plants. As a result, Apple decided to stop depending so heavily on one country for this critical function. President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to place tariffs of at least 60% on Chinese imports put additional pressure on Apple to expand its manufacturing base.
India stands out as a major beneficiary of the change. But China seems intent on delaying the shipping of iPhone assembly equipment out of the country.
“China is increasing its scrutiny of exports by Apple and other American tech companies, hampering their efforts to expand production in Southeast Asia and India,” Nikkei Asia reported Tuesday. The story says the additional scrutiny “resulted in delays of days or even weeks on shipments of production equipment and materials to Vietnam and India.”
To slow the process, Chinese customs officials use an excuse involving new Chinese regulations about exporting dual-use technology — tech that could be used for both civilian and military purposes. But some experts call that a smoke screen.
“Trump’s threats of a tariff war and the deterioration of the Chinese economy are the main drivers behind the increasing Chinese customs checks,” Chiu Shih-fang, a tech supply chain analyst with the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, told Nikkei Asia. “This is a comprehensive measure of leveraging its policy to slow everyone’s pace of shifting away from China.”
This process would be vastly more complex if the iPhone were actually made in China, as many people mistakenly believe. While Apple’s partners assemble iPhones there, the components come from around the world, including the United States. TSMC recently began making chips for Apple in Arizona, for example.
