Isn’t it incredible that the world’s most popular mobile brand doesn’t manufacture its own mobile phones? As per records, none of the reigning organizations have been able to beat Apple in terms of Smartphones, Smart watches, tablets and laptops. It’s a brand that is way ahead of any of its competitors. So, the question is, why doesn’t Apple produce/manufacture its own products. Let’s try to dig deeper.
It’s A Consumer Company, Not a Technology Company
In this world of cut throat competition, NOT MANUFACTURING ONE’S OWN PRODUCTS is nothing new. Many production giants don’t manufacture their own parts. Imagine expecting an Airline Company to manufacture its own planes or say refining its own fuel. It actually doesn’t work like this. Apple doesn’t manufacture its products since this process might get delayed owing to the humongous demand. It is basically a User experience company and sells the experience of a very high end phone with an extremely well integrated working environment. To implement this, it has to have physical phones so it buys the phones from other manufacturers. It is a Consumer company using technology and not a technology company per se. So, one should not expect Apple to manufacture its products when it’s actually NOT a technology company. It very well partners with other companies.
It’s not surprising to hear that Samsung sells certain parts to Apple. Other suppliers includes names like :
Foxconn : Repertoire includes ipods, phones, Apple watch and ipads.
Wistron : Provides notebooks and computers
Pegatron: Manufactured iphone4 and iphone5
Goertek : Manufactures Airpods
Luxshare : Also manufactures airpods
Qualcomm : Manufactures power trackers, baseband processors, GSM/CDMA receivers
Intel : Manufactures Processor and smartphone modems
To name a few…. One can’t name a company that is the best in every aspect. For certain commodities, it definitely makes sense to leverage the manufacturing expertise of others, especially with the kind of volume experienced by Apple for its devices. Apple however designs many of the vital components of its phones like the GPU, CPU and others like MacBook CNCed shells, color matched plastics etc. Manufacturing these parts makes economic sense you see!
Apple has patented many critical components of its screen technology irrespective of who is manufacturing the product. Its supply chain acumen is considered to be the best in the business.
Have you ever heard of a chef having its own herd of cows or growing its own potatoes? Well, life is all about collaboration. When life throws you oranges make juices out of it. If one tries to do everything by itself, it ends up being the jack of all trades and master of none. It’s better to leverage other’s expertise than to fall in any such untoward incident. Apple, knows it to the tee, so focuses on the things it masterises and leaves things not forming the core of its existence to those who are masters in the logistics of manufacturing. Simple, isn’t it?
I guess this answers the question that was looming large for quite some time now. Happy reading!