2018's A12 Bionic filed as the world's first seven-nanometer mobile processor, and it still smokes competition! But iPhones due in 2020 may give would-be iPhone killers another pause. According to sources, Apple's tentatively named "A14 Bionic" chip powering 2020 handsets will be fabricated on TSMC's cutting-edge five-nanometer process technology.
Manufacturing
DigiTimes: iPad mini 5 rumored to arrive later in 2019
Taiwanese contract manufacturer Compal Electronics is expected to build Apple's fifth-generation iPad mini tablet that should arrive "later in 2019".
Apple in 2018 spent $60 billion with American component suppliers
Coinciding with today's report in The New York Times detailing why Apple won’t be bringing manufacturing jobs back home, the Cupertino technology giant has now issued a press release focused on US suppliers Finisar, Corning and Broadcom which are building parts for its products at domestic manufacturing plants.
The gist of the report: the iPhone maker in 2018 alone spent a whopping $90 billion with 9,000 America component suppliers and companies such as Finisar, Corning and Broadcom.
The figure translates into an increase of more than ten percent from the year before, supporting more than 450,000 jobs, according to the press release.
Finisar, which supplies laser components for the TrueDepth camera, was awarded $390 million from Apple’s $1 billion Advanced Manufacturing Fund last year to expand production. The supplier used that money to turn an unoccupied building in Sherman, Texas into a "bustling operation" full of people who will supply that future business.
Finisar's technician handles a VCSEL wafer during production.The facility will eventually employ up to 500 engineers who will be mass-producing vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) for modern iPhones.
VCSEL wafers are nearly as thin as a human hair and contain hundreds of layers measuring only a few atoms in thickness. They require a highly advanced and precise manufacturing operation, as well as skilled technicians with specialized training.
Corning's 65-year-old facility in Harrodsburg, Kentucky produces iPhone cover glass. It received a $200 million investment from Apple for state-of-the-art glass processing.
Army veteran Michael Turner, 40, Michael Turner gets ready to enter the production floor at the Sherman plant.Apple works with many other US suppliers, like Cincinnati Test Systems and Broadcom.
Cincinnati Test Systems in Ohio designed a first-of-its-kind equipment to ensure iPhone is water resistant. And Broadcom in Fort Collins, Colorado, Qorvo in Hillsboro, Oregon and Skyworks in Woburn, Massachusetts, are all making wireless communication hardware that enables global connectivity.
Since 2011, the total number of jobs created and supported by Apple in the US has more than tripled, from almost 600,000 to 2 million across all 50 states.
A tiny custom screw: the issues Apple will face if it moves iPhone assembly back to America
The vast majority of iPhones and Macs are manufactured and assembled in China so when Apple in 2012 announced that its partner Flextronics would produce the Mac Pro chassis at its manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, some people were expectedly skeptical.
Apple’s allegedly begun production of the elusive AirPower multi-device wireless charger
Originally intended to be released in 2018, Apple's AirPower wireless charger could be coming soon because the iPhone maker has purportedly begun production of the device.
Apple is interested in Sony’s newest 3D camera sensor which can recognize hand gestures
Sony, the biggest maker of camera chips used in phones, appears to be boosting production of next-generation 3D sensors after getting interest from phone makers including Apple.
A look at Apple’s flirtation with Mac manufacturing in California in the 1980s
Apple's been criticized by the Trump administration for not trying harder to bring those manufacturing jobs back to the United States. In the Eighties, it was running an advanced, automated Macintosh manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. So, what went wrong?
Apple investigating whether Quanta was illegally employing students to build Apple Watches
Apple has launched an internal investigation into damning reports alleging that its supplier Quanta Computer illegally employed high school students to assemble Apple Watch units in China's Chongqing, reportedly pushing employees to work overtime and night shifts.
iPhone chipmaker TSMC warns of delayed shipments following computer virus attack
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) said this morning that it would have to delay shipments and warned of reduced revenues because of the impact a recent virus outbreak has had on its factories that churn out iPhone chips.
Foxconn ramps up seasonal hiring ahead of mass-production of 2018 iPhones
As Apple is prepping to kick off mass-production of 2018's iPhone models, its favorite manufacturer Foxconn is now offering staff retention bonuses and ramping up seasonal hiring.
Wisconsin breaks ground on new Foxconn LCD panel facility
As expected, Foxconn on Thursday broke ground on a new 20 million-square-foot complex in Wisconsin that will make LCD panels. The project, first announced in 2017, could bring thousands of new jobs to the midwest state.Â
Wisconsin’s new Foxconn plant is getting more costly to residents
During a Thursday ceremony in Wisconsin, President Donald Trump will no doubt call this week's groundbreaking of Foxconn's 20 million-square-foot complex that will make LCD panels an example of how his administration is "making America great again." That may be true for the citizens of Wisconsin in the long-run, but right now it has become a far costlier proposition than once imagined, according to The Wall Street Journal.Â