On the backs of iPods, iPhones and iPads, and on the bottom of Mac laptops, an inscription reads: “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.”
The parts themselves come from more than 150 companies from various parts of the world. The majority of those antennas, glass, metal, sensors and silicon are manufactured overseas.
How Apple finds parts and manufactures its products, almost entirely abroad, is standard protocol in the technology industry. Electronics companies say Asian manufacturing plants are more affordable and more versatile than those found anywhere else in the world.
But as the most valuable tech company in the world, Apple is seen by many as a role model in business. And its reliance on cheap overseas labor — most notably at factories in China run by manufacturer Foxconn — has come under increased scrutiny in recent media coverage by CNN, The New York Times and other outlets.
Foxconn, owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry, counts Apple among its business clients, which also include Amazon.com, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and many other tech giants. Apple has reported violations at its facilities, and Foxconn has come under fire for a slew of worker suicides in 2010 and conditions that workers-rights groups say are inhumane.
Full Story Via CNN