Vietnam To Make Apple Watch, MacBook For First Time Ever

Apple is in talks to make Apple Watches and MacBooks in Vietnam for the first time, marking a further win for the Southeast Asian country as the U.S. tech giant looks to diversify production away from China. Nikkei Asia reports: Vietnam is already Apple's most important production hub outside of China, producing a wide range of flagship products for the American company, including iPad tablets and AirPods earphones. The Apple Watch is even more sophisticated, according to industry experts, who say that squeezing so many components into such a small case requires a high degree of technological skill. Producing the device would be a win for Vietnam as the country attempts to further upgrade its tech manufacturing sector.

Apple has also continued to shift iPad production to Vietnam after COVID-related lockdowns in Shanghai caused massive supply chain disruptions. BYD of China was the first to assist with this shift, though sources told Nikkei Asia that Foxconn, too, is now helping build more iPads in the Southeast Asian nation. Apple is also in talks with suppliers to build test production lines for its HomePod smart speakers in Vietnam, the people said. On the MacBook front, Apple has asked suppliers to set up a test production line in Vietnam, two sources said. However, progress in moving mass production to the country has been slow, partly due to pandemic-related disruptions but also because notebook computer production involves a larger supply chain, multiple sources said. That network is currently centered on China and very cost-competitive, they added. Further reading: Apple Targets September 7 for iPhone 14 Launch in Flurry of New Devices

Uh, no.

[BLToday]

Vietnam has been making the Apple Watch. My Apple Watch Series 7 says made in Vietnam. So it's been there for at least a year now.

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[slazzy]

As usual, slashdot is a few years behind in the news ;)

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[NoMoreACs]

Vietnam has been making the Apple Watch. My Apple Watch Series 7 says made in Vietnam. So it's been there for at least a year now.

I believe they make AirTags there, too.

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[BLToday]

My AirTags say Made in China.

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[NoMoreACs]

My AirTags say Made in China.

Sorry. I thought I had read somewhere that they were going to do them n Vietnam. I must admit to never even seeing one IRL.

But apparently I was just hallucinating...

Not surprised

[aerogems]

A lot of companies have been slowly moving more and more production to Vietnam and/or Singapore and out of China. At my current job, helping support the move of a lot of products from China to Vietnam has kept me VERY busy.

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[Joce640k]

What's the motivation behind the move?

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[bsdetector101]

Getting away from China only.

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[Stonent1]

As the US Government puts turns the screws tighter on China for its unwillingness to try to be decent to others or even its own people or people they claim are theirs, major manufacturers need to plan for the worst.

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[radarskiy]

China is becoming too expensive

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[tlhIngan]

Southeast Asia region is a good hotspot - Singapore is a major shipping hub with a lot of access - so much so the Strait of Malacca off Malaysia is some of the most piracy laden waters out there. But if it has to go by boat, there's a lot of access Singapore provides.

Vietnam is a country that is still somewhat friendly to the US, and has trade routes to Singapore.

The other reason would be geopolitical - China is claiming rights to a lot of the waters around Southeast Asia, claiming rights to the Marshall is

Clarification needed

[damas]

I’ve known this for twenty years and I’m still surprised by the shortsightedness of these moves. In order to get rid off the dependency on communist China the US and the EU are becoming dependent on manufacturing in communist Vietnam. Also surprising, both the EU and the US have free trade agreements with Vietnam but there’s no free trade agreement between the EU and the US because both “want to protect their workers” \_()_/

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[cowdung]

Yeah. It doesn't make much sense. Vietnam is probably influenced by China.
I think this has less to do with independence from China and more about saving money since China has become more costly.

Vietnam isn't a puppet of China.

[Eunomion]

Spreading some business out to neighboring countries will dilute China's power over the global economy, so long as it's replacing Chinese businesses in the supply chain rather than growing from them.

Turns out...

[groobly]

It turns out that the best places to make capitalist products are communist countries.