Apple wants more robots in production – in all product categories
Parts of the production of the iPhone & Co. are an astonishingly manual process – In China or India, many employees are available for this. But will it last?
Apple boss Tim Cook a few years ago at Foxconn in China.
(Image: Apple)
Apple is putting pressure on its manufacturers to have more of the company's products produced by machines and robots. According to a report in the Taiwan-based electronics trade journal DigiTimes, fewer people are to be employed in all manufacturing areas. This affects all major product categories, i.e., iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch and iPad – and possibly also accessories. Apple also expects manufacturers, who are mainly based in Asia, to take action themselves to automate their factories – and the company wants to invest less in the necessary upgrades itself, as was previously the case.
Maintaining margins thanks to automation
The project itself has been running for several years. Even before the summer of 2024, the goal was to use only robots in at least half of the iPhone final assembly. However, it remains unclear how far Apple has come with this. Due to the current US customs situation, which is still considered tense despite the recent good news for Apple, Apple wants to significantly reduce costs in order to continue to achieve high margins.
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The aim is to reduce expenditure on salaries and staff while at the same time improving product quality and increasing yields – regardless of where the factory is located. Apple has expanded massively in India in recent years, primarily to supply the US market. One of the well-known problems of such new locations is that employees first have to be brought up to the quality level of other production facilities – The more automation has been introduced, the easier this is.
Apple does not produce itself, but co-finances
Until now, it was considered a given that Apple would no longer operate its own factories – there are only a few sites left in the USA and Ireland. However, it would keep its manufacturers such as Foxconn, Pegatron, and Tata on a tight leash. They have to adhere extremely closely to Apple's specifications. In many cases, Apple has either purchased or pre-financed the necessary machines.
The new measures now appear to be different. According to DigiTimes, profits are already falling at suppliers who are implementing the automation campaign. However, Apple is continuing to provide support in other areas: Macrumors reports that this includes the topic of COâ‚‚ neutrality. Apple still wants to convert its entire supply chain accordingly by 2030 and is also investing locally to achieve this.
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