After performing production trials at Foxconn’s facility in the nation, Apple is said to start shifting some MacBook Pro manufacturing in Vietnam. As part of efforts to reduce its reliance on China, Apple has considered manufacturing the MacBook Pro there. A recent source claims that after doing test runs, Apple intends to begin producing certain MacBook Pro models in the country around May 2023.
Nikkei Asia asserts that the changeover has taken longer than it did with the iPad and AirPods because of the complexity of the MacBook Pro’s production process. If MacBook production moves to Vietnam, for the first time, every flagship Apple product will have a second manufacturing base outside of China. Importantly, the statement omits any details on expected output levels.
Apple has tapped its top supplier, Taiwan’s Foxconn, to start making MacBooks in the Southeast Asian nation as early as around May, sources briefed on the matter said.
Apple has been working to add production sites outside of China for all of its major product lines, but doing so for the final one, the MacBook, has taken longer due to the complex supply chain needed for making laptop computers.”
Nikkei Asia
t’s unlikely that Vietnamese manufacturing in 2023 would have a substantial influence on Apple’s yearly output of 20–24 million MacBooks in China given the time needed to set up commercial production. For Apple, the iPhone issue is the same. With the assembly of the iPhone 14 there just a few weeks after production began in China, it has significantly boosted iPhone production in India. However, current estimates indicate that a single facility in Zhengzhou, China, continues to manufacture 80% of the iPhones sold worldwide.
Apple’s reliance on China has always been a cause for worry, but the pandemic highlighted the risks involved with the company focusing much of its production pressure on a single facility.