Chinese Working Conditions Raised … Along With the Price of Gadgets?

The worker’s environment in Chinese electronics manufacturer Foxconn has been a sticky issue for Apple’s PR department, but it’s also highlighted one big fact: If Western firms stick with Chinese sources, gadgets will get more expensive. This is the thrust of a piece at the New York Times, which starts by looking at the reports about the new tear-down revelations concerning Apple’s newest iPhone version: The smallest part of the cost of putting the thing together seems to be the manufacturing/assembly element, in China. The electronics themselves are sourced from all over the world–wherever there’s a facility of sufficient scale and expertise to supply Apple’s voracious demands. These parts are subject to their own market forces and price swings, demonstrated most obviously in the variable pricing of flash-based memory chips. But swings in component costs are very much structured into the business model of every manufacturer of high-tech consumer electronics. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company: Apple, Dell, HP | Source: Fast Company