That we don't have a bunch of young people who find working in a factory in their list of fulfilling occupations.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Only 50% of iPhone Casings Made in India Meet Apple's Quality Standards
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That's at a single point in time. Most estimates are ~13 million Africans were imported into what is now the USA over the course of slavery (order of magnitude more if you include the Caribbean and south America) and of course many of their offspring were blown into slavery over the 300ish years of its existence. So yes, we'll say tens of millions instead of hundreds of millions--my mistake.
Because it's tens of thousands of people in their early 20s who work there, most of whom are far from home and going through the same emotional stuff people this age all over the world go through.
Why do 24,000 students at US universities attempt suicide every year? Because they are slaves right?
That reminds me of the Poo2Loo campaign in India. How to combat open defecation. I don't know if it succeeded, though. Hopefully, it did, and they now are ready to produce iPhones instead.
The working conditions aren't particularly relevant at all. There were of course "house slaves" in the antebellum south whose working conditions were significantly better than most poor southern white farmers.
The core distinction of slavery is not having the direct autonomy to choose not to work. The iPhone factory workers absolutely can quit any time they want.
But since you're talking about working conditions, it's relevant to note that iPhone assembly is within the upper half of working conditions for jobs in China, and quite frankly a plum job when viewed globally. If you're argument is that any job with these working conditions or worse is effectively "slavery", then you're also saying that ~70% of the Earth's workers are slaves.
I work with an Indian company for work. Very true. Attitude is completely different.
What will happen faster, india making iphones as good as china or chinese people walking on the moon
You will pay $2k instead of $1k for the iPhone pro with a made in usa label then, yes?
This crappy argument time and time again.
So we don’t have the youth looking for good-paying manufacturing jobs, but over 43% of all US full-time workers earn less than $15 an hour? Are we suggesting 43% of American workers aren’t interested in higher-paying manufacturing jobs with (many times) union benefits?
It just doesn’t make sense. All manufacturing jobs require are training, you literally stand at a station and perform the same function thousands of times per day, all anyone needs to do this is training, the same as India or China or anyplace else.
Unfettered capitalism and just plain outright greed of always wanting ‘more’ (the shareholders) are the reasons why Americans (the #1 purchaser of iPhones) continue to support foreign countries with our purchases. It’s sad because those dollars sold in iPhones should be benefiting American workers and families, but they don’t.
Who do you expect then to work in US-based factories? Even more interesting, from your moral vantage point - who should then work to provide you with cars, smartphones, planes?
Yeah, screw those with electrical engineering diploma, mechanics, hydraulics, optics, operating automated assembly units - let alone someone to manage the floor. YOU JUST HAVE TO STAND AT A STATION.
I doubt you ever been to any high-tech manufacturing plant.
Perhaps not now. But the quality of workers making Apple products in India will be enough in due time.
Not to mention the term "living wage" has no actual metric to measure against, but I digress. We have a workforce that is uninterested in blue collar work, sadly, and we've devalued such jobs as a society, creating this myth that if it doesn't require a college degree it's a "bad" job or not useful in general.
Not to mention that, due to said higher wages, your iPhone just became a $3k item rather than the $800-$1100 item it is today (before you start upping the storage).
I think your history is a little confused. Pre-GATT, we were in a world war, and no, we weren't living at a higher standard of living than we have today, because everything was rationed for the war effort.
Now, between GATT and NAFTA, one could argue that to a point, but it wouldn't be a strong argument. The single earner household began to crumble in the late 60's to early 70's, long before NAFTA was signed under the Clinton Administration. Since then, domestic manufacturing has continued to shrink, but I don't think NAFTA was as big a contributor as you imply. Sure, it had an effect, but so did the mindset that blue collar workers are uneducated, uncouth swine and that the only way to get a "good" job was to go to college. Queue the federal subsidies of tuition, and you now have people that start their careers already deep in debt. Why? They were told college was their only hope, steered away from skilled trades (which now is facing a major shortfall of workers and an abundance of good paying work), and told not to worry about attending a school you couldn't realistically afford, because federal financial aid will take care of you, so just sign for this loan here...
Last edited:
Shantaram got cancelled?
Now I wish they had ended the show on a high note, rather than opting for a downer cliffhanger in anticipation of a second season that was never confirmed.
Interesting words. Samsung doesn’t seem to have problems with Indian manufacturing. Besides, if Apple had such zero defect policy, how do they explain people having their China made iPhones being scuffed/scratched and having gaps right out of the box?
Come on Apple, just be honest. You were trying to cut cost, and you found Indian manufacturing have higher tolerance, and you found yourself with subpar quality. I bet that won’t stop you raising prices though.
Come on Apple, just be honest. You were trying to cut cost, and you found Indian manufacturing have higher tolerance, and you found yourself with subpar quality. I bet that won’t stop you raising prices though.
Well, to be fair, India doesn't want to have a full scale war with us. China has been preparing to do so since the 90's.