Apple today announced 44 of its suppliers have committed to using 100 percent renewable energy in their production of its gadgets as the Cupertino giant spent $2.5 billion in green bonds on environmental initiatives, the largest amount of any US corporation.
Coinciding with today's report in The New York Times detailing why Apple won’t be bringing manufacturing jobs back home, the Cupertino technology giant has now issued a press release focused on US suppliers Finisar, Corning and Broadcom which are building parts for its products at domestic manufacturing plants.
The gist of the report: the iPhone maker in 2018 alone spent a whopping $90 billion with 9,000 America component suppliers and companies such as Finisar, Corning and Broadcom.
The figure translates into an increase of more than ten percent from the year before, supporting more than 450,000 jobs, according to the press release.
Finisar, which supplies laser components for the TrueDepth camera, was awarded $390 million from Apple’s $1 billion Advanced Manufacturing Fund last year to expand production. The supplier used that money to turn an unoccupied building in Sherman, Texas into a "bustling operation" full of people who will supply that future business.
Finisar's technician handles a VCSEL wafer during production.The facility will eventually employ up to 500 engineers who will be mass-producing vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) for modern iPhones.
VCSEL wafers are nearly as thin as a human hair and contain hundreds of layers measuring only a few atoms in thickness. They require a highly advanced and precise manufacturing operation, as well as skilled technicians with specialized training.
Corning's 65-year-old facility in Harrodsburg, Kentucky produces iPhone cover glass. It received a $200 million investment from Apple for state-of-the-art glass processing.
Army veteran Michael Turner, 40, Michael Turner gets ready to enter the production floor at the Sherman plant.Apple works with many other US suppliers, like Cincinnati Test Systems and Broadcom.
Cincinnati Test Systems in Ohio designed a first-of-its-kind equipment to ensure iPhone is water resistant. And Broadcom in Fort Collins, Colorado, Qorvo in Hillsboro, Oregon and Skyworks in Woburn, Massachusetts, are all making wireless communication hardware that enables global connectivity.
Since 2011, the total number of jobs created and supported by Apple in the US has more than tripled, from almost 600,000 to 2 million across all 50 states.
For the second time in two months, Apple is cutting iPhone production, according to a new report from Nikkei. Citing sources with knowledge of the request, the outlet says Apple has asked its suppliers to produce 10% fewer handsets than originally planned for the January-March quarter.
Key Apple suppliers—TSMC, the sole supplier of Apple-designed mobile chips, and Foxconn, which assembles iPhones—today reported strong November revenue, but that didn't stop Bloomberg from pushing its narrative that the latest lineup is “falling flat with global consumers” as “iPhone concerns persist”.
LG Display is likely to deliver between 2 million and 4 million OLED panels to Apple for future iPhones. The move would end Samsung's monopoly here and could help to accelerate broader adoption of OLED screens, according to Jerry Kang from IHS Markit.
Commercial production has begun on TSMC’s 7nm chip. This is the same chip likely to be found in Apple’s upcoming A12 processor for all three 2018 iPhone models.
Apple’s indirect presence may be fading from CES as Google and Amazon stole the show with their smart assistants and speakers, but that didn't stop the Cupertino company's representatives from holding curious talks with some interesting suppliers in Las Vegas.
Apple is thought to work on some kind of an augmented reality headset accessory and now a high-ranking official with one of Apple's key Taiwanese suppliers claims that the rumored device will be coming no later than the year 2019.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip maker, is in the early stage of development and testing of manufacturing processes in preparation for Apple's next-generation A12 chips for 2018 iPhones.
A limited run of “Assembled in India” iPhone SE models is now rolling from the assembly lines in India, run by Apple's contract manufacturer Wistron, but the Cupertino technology giant is now seeking extend tax breaks for its suppliers to build iPhones in the country from scratch.
Apple will use advanced organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels in all new iPhones launched from the second half of 2018, according to industry sources cited in a report Thursday by Japanese outlet Nikkei.
An industry source added that the Californian company is “tentatively looking” at releasing three new iPhones next year, adding Apple has already started to design the upcoming models.
Apple's plans are contingent upon suppliers' ability to churn out OLED panels in volume.
Because of that, the company could change its plans down the road. Sources in the OLED production equipment industry suggested that vendors may be unable to manufacture enough OLED panels to meet demand should Apple in fact go with OLEDs across 2018 iPhones.
An unnamed Sharp executive was quoted in the story as saying that “it was not likely” Apple will be using OLED screens for all new iPhones next year.
Here's a recent video of a CNC-machined iPhone 8 dummy based on the rumor-mill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW1gx086ZxU
This year, as you know, Apple is widely expected to outfit iPhone 8 with an OLED-based screen.
The flagship device is expected to sport the highest screen-to-body ratio, ditch the physical Home button and reduce or completely eliminate the top and bottom chin.
Yuanta Investment Consulting said shipments of 2017 iPhones will reach 90 million handsets, half of which will be OLED models.
As for the iterative iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus updates coming down the pike this year, these devices will continue to sport LCD screens like prior iPhone models.
Nikkei added that the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus models will be sold into early 2019. In other words, panel vendors will still be able to supply LCDs for older Apple handsets next year and well into 2019.