Text: Crescent Moon
In 2009, China Unicom introduced Apple into the Chinese market, and the Apple products it launched were regarded as representatives of "high-end". Whether in terms of quality, experience or appearance, Apple products are favored by users. With the departure of Jobs and under the leadership of Cook, the shipment of Apple products in the domestic market has increased significantly, and Apple's revenue has also increased year by year.
According to the latest financial report, in the third quarter of 2021, Apple's revenue was $83.4 billion, an increase of 28.8% year-on-year, and the market expectation was $85.1 billion. Profit for the quarter was $20.6 billion, up 62% year-over-year, in line with market expectations. Apple's profit for the fiscal year has reached $94.6 billion, far exceeding the record of $58.5 billion set in 2018.
But recently, an article about Apple weaning out 34 Chinese suppliers has attracted attention, with Apple Cook turning the other cheek and 34 Chinese suppliers being abandoned. As a result, the 34 Chinese suppliers suffered heavy losses. In the case of OFILM, in March this year, the Chinese supplier received a "breakup notice" from Apple and was removed from the supply chain by Apple. The consequent consequence is that OFILM's profits in the first half of the year plummeted by more than 90%, and the scale of the enterprise shrank significantly.
So why is Cook so bold, and why does Apple reject domestic companies? Cook has said more than once that the last thing he worries about is sales in the Chinese market, and Chinese consumers have not disappointed Cook. At the moment when domestic mobile phone manufacturers continue to launch 5G mobile phones, the 4G mobile phone iPhone 11 released by Apple two years ago is still one of the best-selling mobile phones, which really embarrassing domestic mobile phones, but this is precisely where Cook's confidence lies.
In recent years, Apple has reduced costs by various means, canceling the charging head and wired headphones under the guise of "environmental protection", and domestic consumers are also happy to accept, consumers in European countries are very dissatisfied with suing Apple and have received corresponding compensation, and some regions will still be accompanied by charging heads and headphones. Even if they are treated differently, Chinese consumers still have no complaints and continue to firmly support Apple, so Apple will be unscrupulous.
Of course, in the field of smartphones, Apple has such pride and pride that it can issue orders to suppliers, but once the field is changed, Apple is not so popular. Not long ago, when Apple wanted to seek partners in the field of automobile manufacturing, it was explicitly rejected by the two major Chinese companies, and it was a "closed door soup".
In the face of this cooperative relationship, CCTV also suddenly spoke out, clearly stating: get rid of dependence! CCTV pointed out that domestic enterprises should be laid out in multiple fields, reduce "Apple dependence", can not be satisfied with the status quo because they are favored by Apple, and should actively seek more customers to prevent them from being ruthlessly "abandoned" one day.
As Apple's royal foundry, Foxconn's revenue mainly depends on Apple's orders, so what if Apple withdraws from China? Who can't do without whom? In this regard, Gou said: The consequences are unimaginable. This statement also triggered "public anger", many netizens retorted: "Chinese consumers will not be inseparable from anyone, even if there is no Apple, we still have Huawei, Millet!" ”
In fact, for the market and consumers, even if Apple withdraws, other domestic smartphone brands will quickly fill the vacant market, not to mention that Apple's domestic market share has been falling sharply. According to data from an agency, in the third quarter of this year, the highest market share of 5G mobile phones was Huawei (30.7%), the second was vivo (16.1%), and the fourth was Apple (12.5%).
If Apple completely loses the domestic market, the sales of Apple products will fall sharply, so the saying that "China cannot do without Apple" is actually wrong. Google is a typical example, at present, Google's "vacancy" in the domestic market has been filled by Baidu and Sogou, and users are as handy as Baidu and Sogou. And Apple's departure is conducive to the development of domestic enterprises and can increase the market share of domestic enterprises.
For upstream and downstream enterprises and their employees, because Apple's market share is occupied by other domestic mobile phone brands, mobile phone accessories or OEM orders will not be reduced, and labor demand still exists. As for the problem of employee unemployment, with the rise of domestic foundry giant BYD, this problem will be solved. As the world's second largest mobile phone foundry, BYD has undertaken many orders from smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and Samsung. Compared with the "wavering" Foxconn, BYD is undoubtedly more determined.
On the contrary, Apple cannot get rid of its dependence on China's supply chain. In recent years, some Japanese and Korean companies, including American companies, have moved away from China and transferred their production lines to Southeast Asian countries such as India and Vietnam. For example, Nike, an American company, has moved its factories in China to Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand in favor of lower labor prices in Vietnam.
However, due to the severity of the epidemic in Vietnam, the Nike plant has been shut down for three months, and the production capacity has been lost heavily. From June to August, sales in Greater China grew by only 1%. Nike embraced Vietnam, but lost the Chinese market. The same is true for Apple, if you want to leave China, you will only lose more, and moving to India is the best lesson.
Therefore, once Apple withdraws, Foxconn's development will be seriously affected. As the Ministry of Commerce once said, the global industrial supply chain pattern is not formed in a day, nor can it be changed by the withdrawal of a company. Smart foreign investors will not give up the Chinese market, so we do not need to worry too much about the "withdrawal" of a company.