Apple Hiring Engineers and Supply Chain Managers in Asia to Speed Up Production

Apple is hiring engineers and supply chain managers for its operations in Asia as its seeks to expand and quicken the production of new and existing products, reports the Wall Street Journal. These new teams will work out of the company's main Asian campus in Shanghai, China and its office in Taipei, Taiwan.

foxconn_ipad_polishing
The report states that the company is hiring engineers away from HTC, Inventec and other Taiwanese tech firms to build an engineering team in Taipei. These new hires will quicken the pace of production by working closely with Apple's Asian suppliers on hardware components for the iPhone and iPad. They also will oversee software quality assurance.

Apple has added several hundred new engineers and operations staff in China over the past two years, with a blitz of hiring that began in mid-2013, people familiar with the matter said. The total number of engineers and operations staff in China now exceeds 600, they said.

Apple also is adding supply chain managers to its Asian staff in response to ongoing criticism of working conditions in select supplier factories.

Apple's new operations in Asia may help combat supply constraints that have plagued recent product launches. The company admitted during its Q1 2013 earnings conference call that production issues limited the supply of the iMac during the holiday shopping season. More recently, Apple warned of low Retina iPad mini inventory prior to the tablet's launch in late 2013.

Popular Stories

ipad mini 2021 youtube

New Report Reveals When to Expect the iPad Mini 7

Tuesday October 1, 2024 2:09 pm PDT by
Apple is working on a new iPad mini that will "potentially" be released "by the end of 2024," according to a report today from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Last month, Gurman reported that Apple had "new iPads in the works," including an upgraded version of the iPad mini. At the time, he said the device was "on deck for Apple's October event" alongside the first M4 Macs. The wording in his...
airpods pro 2 gradient

AirPods Pro 3 Expected Next Year: Here's What We Know

Tuesday October 1, 2024 5:47 am PDT by
Despite being released over two years ago, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 continue to dominate the wireless earbud market. However, with the AirPods Pro 3 expected to launch sometime in 2025, anyone thinking of buying Apple's premium earbuds may be wondering if the next generation is worth holding out for. Apart from their audio and noise-canceling performance, which are generally regarded as...
apple silicon mac lineup wwdc 2022 feature purple

MacBook Pro, iMac, and Redesigned Mac Mini With M4 Chips on Track to Launch 'This Year'

Tuesday October 1, 2024 1:57 pm PDT by
Apple plans to release new MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini models with the M4 series of chips "this year," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman initially said these Macs would likely be announced during a virtual event this October, but he has been more vague about the timing lately, with wording such as "in the coming weeks" and now merely "this year." In any case, it is clear that...
15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.1

Friday September 27, 2024 6:14 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.1 in October, bringing the first set of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update marks a significant step forward in Apple's AI integration, offering a new Siri contextually-aware experience and a range of additional capabilities powered by on-device machine learning and large language models. There are a couple of handy new...
iPhone SE 4 Thumb 2

Apple's Next New iPhone to Debut in the Spring: What to Expect

Tuesday October 1, 2024 3:14 am PDT by
Apple's budget-friendly iPhone SE is set for a major overhaul with a fourth generation model expected to launch in spring 2025. The upcoming model will mark a significant departure from its predecessors, adopting several features from higher-end iPhones while maintaining its position as the most affordable new model in Apple's lineup. According to recent reports, the iPhone SE 4 will sport a ...
iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

iPhone SE With Apple Intelligence, New iPad Air, and More Reportedly Launching 'Early Next Year'

Tuesday October 1, 2024 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple plans to release a new iPhone SE with Apple Intelligence support, new iPad Air models, and an updated Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air at some point "early next year," according to a report today from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The next iPhone SE will have a similar design as the iPhone 14, including an edge-to-edge screen with a notch, according to Gurman. This means the device will...
m3 mbp space black

What to Expect From an Apple Event in October: iPad Mini 7, Redesigned Mac Mini, and More

Friday September 27, 2024 11:47 am PDT by
Apple will likely hold another event in October this year to announce new Macs and iPads. If so, it would be the fourth time in the last five years that Apple has held an event in October. Last year, Apple held a virtual event on Monday, October 30 to announce new MacBook Pro and iMac models with the M3 series of chips. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.0.1 Coming Soon: What to Expect for Your iPhone

Wednesday October 2, 2024 5:50 am PDT by
Following the release of iOS 18 for the iPhone last month, Apple is preparing to release iOS 18.0.1 with bug fixes in the near future. We previously reported that Apple has been internally testing iOS 18.0.1, and today a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing iOS-related information said the update will have a build number of 22A3370. We expect iOS 18.0.1 to be a minor ...

Top Rated Comments

StyxMaker Avatar
138 months ago
Why on Earth would the average minimum-wage earning American decide to work grueling hours on a factory line making $26,000 annually, when the lazy half of our great nation can now make roughly $50,000 sitting at home on their butts doing nothing and collecting welfare? Scary isin't it? Keep voting for those liberals America.
Since you brought it up, in all my years working at a behavioral health facility I've never met a person on welfare that made much more than about 10k. And all of them would, and did, get off welfare as soon as they could.

You are misinformed.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
elev8d Avatar
138 months ago
Not requiring a step during production where some human has to sit there with an exact-o-knife carving out the Apple logo from the back of an iPad case.

Seriously, Apple, take some of your hundreds of billions in revenue and invest in automation techniques to build your products without the massive human rights violations.

Lol. I'm pretty sure she isn't carving a logo into an aluminum shell with x-acto knife. :rolleyes:
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnasher729 Avatar
138 months ago
Not requiring a step during production where some human has to sit there with an exact-o-knife carving out the Apple logo from the back of an iPad case.

Seriously, Apple, take some of your hundreds of billions in revenue and invest in automation techniques to build your products without the massive human rights violations.

Exactly. Doesn't matter if people lose their jobs. Or if it costs more money than is going to be saved.

----------

somewhat OT, but can't decide what is worse

lots of underpaid overworked employees -or- fully automated plants and people without jobs

Salaries in all the places working for Apple have gone up a lot in the last years. You know, it's not only salaries that are lower in China. It's the cost of living as well. Overtime has been reduced year over year.

However, the first ever report that I can remember about working conditions in Apple-related Chinese factories said that the biggest number of complaints were about overtime. Turned out people didn't complain about having to work overtime. They complained that there wasn't always as much overtime work available as they wanted.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macpro2000 Avatar
138 months ago
Hey Apple, can you please send some brains to Austin?!?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ChrisCW11 Avatar
138 months ago
You know what would speed up production???

Not requiring a step during production where some human has to sit there with an exact-o-knife carving out the Apple logo from the back of an iPad case.

Seriously, Apple, take some of your hundreds of billions in revenue and invest in automation techniques to build your products without the massive human rights violations.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
superman23 Avatar
138 months ago
Lol. I'm pretty sure she isn't carving a logo into an aluminum shell with x-acto knife. :rolleyes:

probably deburring the hole. i'm sure Apple has a reason for doing it by hand. machines are big, expensive, and often hard to get. then you have to pay people to program and operate and repair. simple tasks like this are best done by humans especially in China
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)