Another day, another very disingenuous article about Apple abusing little Chinese kids. Thanks to their annoying fans and media outlets the world over, everyone knows that Apple sells less than â…“ of the worlds smartphones but makes more than 60% of the profits. Everyone knows that Apple makes products that some people simply won’t live without, and are willing to pay top dollar to get.
Everyone also knows that Apple doesn’t manufacture a single item in the United States. Everything that Apple sells is made in China, and soon enough some iPads will even come from Brazil. It’s absolutely no secret that Apple chose to make their products in China because labor is so damn cheap and plentiful there.
I thought you said disingenuous
Because of their long lines on release days, rabid fan base and huge stacks of cash, Apple has the largest target on it’s chest for this type of expose. But Foxconn doesn’t exist solely to produce electronics for Apple. All of the largest Android OEM’s also contract Foxconn to produce their devices in factories in China, Brazil, Mexico, Poland and the Czech Republic.
HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola, ASUS, Acer, Lenovo and others contract Foxconn to manufacture products for them in the same complex where iPhones are made. Their devices are made by the same over worked, under paid, under age workers, yet none are mentioned in the Business Insider article. None. Not one. Not even Samsung, the sometimes largest smartphone vendor in the world. Just Apple.
I get why. Of all the companies that I’ve listed here, only one other is a USA corporation, and Motorola isn’t exactly killing it sales wise. Apple is the company on the list that matters to Business Insider, but why? Why does BI care? Should you care?
Apple isn’t abusing Chinese workers, China is
The communist government of the People’s Republic of China is abusing it’s own people and it’s own environment by allowing Foxconn to drive workers head long in to crippling injuries, exposure to carcinogenic chemicals, death on the job and even suicide. Not Apple. Foxconn. And China.
China has manipulated it’s own people, their own natural resources and it’s own currency and there are no signs that any of this will change in the foreseeable future. Apple, as a public, for-profit business incorporated in the United States, has a legal obligation to maximize shareholder value. China aids Apple by whoring out it’s own people to make iGoods at a blistering pace. Blistering. Literally.
Just not concerned about China
Call me what you will, but I am not concerned about how Foxconn workers are treated in China. China doesn’t care. Foxconn doesn’t care. Hell, the workers don’t care. As the article points out, the average Foxconn factory worker makes 5x the monthly income of the workers in the rice paddies that surround the area. 400,000+ workers show up every day to make electronics. They seem OK with it. So am I.
I like my gadgets. I couldn’t care less who makes them, how old they are, how much they are paid or what their living conditions are. As long as the box contains the right device, with all of the advertised accessories and arrives in working order, to hell with the rest of the details.
I don’t care about Chinese workers. Maybe someday the Chinese government will.
Source: Business Insider