Assembled vs. Manufactured
When trying to understand where Apple manufactures its devices, there are two key concepts that sound similar but are different: assembling and manufacturing. Manufacturing is the process of making the components that go into the iPhone. While Apple designs and sells the iPhone, it doesn’t manufacture its components. Instead, Apple uses manufacturers from around the world to deliver individual parts. The manufacturers specialize in particular items—camera specialists manufacture the lens and camera assembly, screen specialists build the display, and so on. Assembling, on the other hand, is the process of taking all the individual components built by specialist manufacturers and combining them into a finished, working iPhone.
The iPhone’s Component Manufacturers
Because there are hundreds of individual components in every iPhone, it’s not possible to list every manufacturer whose products are found on the phone. It’s also difficult to discern exactly where those components are made because sometimes one company builds the same component at multiple factories. Some of the suppliers of key or interesting parts for the iPhone 5S, 6, and 6S and where they operate, included:
Accelerometer: Bosch Sensortech, based in Germany with locations in the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan, and TaiwanAudio chips: Cirrus Logic, based in the U.S. with locations in the U.K., China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and SingaporeBattery: Samsung, based in South Korea with locations in 80 countriesBattery: Sunwoda Electronic, based in ChinaCamera: Qualcomm, based in the U.S. with locations in Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and more than a dozen locations through Europe and Latin AmericaCamera: Sony, based in Japan with locations in dozens of countriesChips for cellular networking: Qualcomm Compass: AKM Semiconductor, based in Japan with locations in the U.S., France, England, China, South Korea, and TaiwanGlass screen: Corning, based in the U.S., with locations in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, The Netherlands, Turkey, the U.K., and the United Arab Emirates Gyroscope: STMicroelectronics. Based in Switzerland, with locations in 35 countriesFlash memory: Toshiba, based in Japan with locations in over 50 countries Flash memory: Samsung LCD screen: Sharp, based in Japan with locations in 13 countriesLCD screen: LG, based in South Korea with locations in Poland and ChinaA-series processor: Samsung A-series processor: TSMC, based in Taiwan with locations in China, Singapore, and the U.S.Touch ID: TSMCTouch ID: Xintec. Based in Taiwan. Touch-screen controller: Broadcom, based in the U.S. with locations in Israel, Greece, the U.K., the Netherlands, Belgium, France, India, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and South KoreaWi-Fi chip: Murata, based in the U.S. with locations in Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, India, Vietnam, The Netherlands, Spain, the U.K., Germany, Hungary, France, Italy, and Finland
The iPhone’s Assemblers
The components manufactured by those companies all around the world are ultimately sent to just two companies to assemble into iPods, iPhones, and iPads. Those companies are Foxconn and Pegatron, both of which are based in Taiwan. Technically, Foxconn is the company’s trade name; the firm’s official name is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. Foxconn is Apple’s longest-running partner in building these devices. It currently assembles the majority of Apple’s iPhones in its Shenzen, China, location, although Foxconn maintains factories in countries across the world, including Thailand, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, South Korea, Singapore, and the Philippines.
