According to ETNews, Apple expects smartphone shipments to increase by 30% year-on-year in the first half of 2022, and annual sales are expected to exceed 300 million units. The news is very big "good news" for Apple, but Cook is not happy at all, because there are many uncertainties in the supply chain, and it is not ruled out that the output is less than expected due to out-of-stock.
In fact, in the fourth quarter of last year, foreign media reported that in order to ensure the production of the iPhone 13 series, Apple had no choice but to cut off the production of some iPads and iPhone 12 series mobile phones. Although the reasons behind it are complex, but to sum up with the word "arrogance" to describe very appropriately, Cook tasted the "bitter fruit" he planted, need to be responsible for the deformed industrial chain cooperation model, the international manufacturers must reflect on it.
Once upon a time, domestic companies were proud to break into Apple's supply chain, and even formed the unspoken rule of "despising" domestic brands, so that when Apple kicked out more than thirty domestic supply chains last year, many companies faced disasters. At that time, CCTV issued a warning that domestic enterprises rely too much on the "fruit chain", and may not be able to seek equal discourse power in the future, and the supply chain has begun to awaken as if it were empowered, and actively seeks to reach a new cooperation model with domestic mobile phone brands.
Taking Lens Technology as an example, in addition to the supply chain cooperation relationship with Apple, it has also jointly established a joint research and development center with the domestic brand Xiaomi, and the two sides have completed each other in new materials, new processes and advanced manufacturing technologies to create the world's leading consumer electronics intelligent factory. Different from Apple's strong position, the cooperation between Xiaomi and domestic enterprises is more equal, so upstream and downstream enterprises do not have to worry about being "kicked out", and Xiaomi does not have to worry about "card neck", because benign cooperation benefits both sides.
Another successful model is Huaxing Optoelectronics, in the past, domestic high-end mobile phones will only carry Samsung screens, if you use domestic screens, it will be like doing a "bad thing", hiding for fear of being mentioned by others. And Xiaomi 12 equipped with Huaxing optoelectronic OLED flexible screen, not only did not shy away from it in the slightest, but as the main selling point for publicity, that is, because this screen is excellent enough, the two sides have many years of cooperation experience, and even set up a joint laboratory, when the quality of the domestic supply chain and word of mouth are guaranteed, why can not be taken out to publicize?
Cook, as a very shrewd businessman, can bring Apple to a market value of $3,000 billion, but he can't learn to make friends with the supply chain equally, perhaps because the "arrogance" in his bones is not willing to bow his head, or he is unwilling to "share a piece of the pie" with the supply chain. Also take Xiaomi mobile phone as an example, it has invested in more than 360 companies, set up Hubei Xiaomi Yangtze River Industry Fund to invest in more than 100 enterprises, all parties to the cooperation can get benefits from it, that is, we often hear "win-win", but Cook believes that the "win-win" is to let Apple win twice, partners can only follow the soup and eat the slag.
As the saying goes, playing iron also needs to be hard, and it is impossible to gain the favor of the supply chain without mastering the core technology. In order to supervise his own progress, Lei Jun doubled the original 50 billion yuan of 5 years of research and development investment to 100 billion, and also granted a total of 1.9 trillion shares to technicians and employees, encouraging everyone to work together to seek core technology breakthroughs. At present, it has made progress in the fields of chips, images, fast charging, and manufacturing, which is also the basis for its cooperation with the supply chain and the source of capital.
The only way Apple wants to get rid of supply chain uncertainty is to put down its body and spit out some fat for partners to eat, rather than taking all the benefits into its own hands. Doing so will lose some gains in the short term, but if you look at the long term, you will understand that it is incomparably correct to give up some benefits in exchange for the support of partners, and domestic companies can come up with twelve points of sincerity, but is Apple really willing to dialogue on an equal footing? Hopefully time will give the answer.