Apple is set to announce its financial earnings results for the second quarter of the 2016 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific, and the consensus among analysts is that the iPhone maker will report its first quarterly revenue decline in over a decade.
Wall Street analysts project that Apple will report revenue of around $52 billion, or nearly a 10-percent decline compared to the year-ago quarter. Today's earnings results are based on the three-month period between December 27, 2015 and March 26, 2016.
Apple itself projected quarterly revenue of between $50 and $53 billion, compared to $58 billion in the year-ago quarter, possibly signaling the end of over 50 consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue growth dating back to 2003.
Tim Cook, CEO, already cautioned investors that iPhone sales will likely decline in the second fiscal quarter. That decline will be realized if Apple sells fewer than 61.2 million iPhones this quarter, which appears likely given most analysts expect sales to hover around the 50 to 51 million mark.
Apple's quarterly revenue between 2005 and 2016 (Source: Statista)
iPhone SE sales will not be included in that total, as the lower-priced smartphone launched on March 31, five days after the quarter ended.
MacRumors will be providing live blog coverage of Apple's earnings conference call with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri at 2:00 p.m. Pacific.
AAPL is trading slightly lower on the NASDAQ at around the $104 mark in pre-market trading ahead of today's announcement.
HTC has released its VR headset iPhone companion app on the App Store, enabling HTC Vive owners to receive real-world notifications from their phone while immersed in virtual reality.
The HTC Vive app brings some of the headset's unique features to iPhone owners for the first time, such as the ability to receive calls, text messages, and calendar reminders within the relative isolation of immersive VR.
Notifications forwarded by the app appear momentarily in the headset's HUD, and remain available in the HTC Vive dashboard for later perusal. Third-party app notifications are not currently supported.
In addition to downloading the free app, headset owners must install the HTC Vive client on their PC. At present, the Android app's facility to send preset responses to calls or texts from within the virtual world is not supported in the iOS version.
HTC Vive owners can download the app for iPhone from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Nokia this morning announced it will buy French health tracking company Withings for an estimated $192 million, as the company seeks to re-establish itself in the consumer electronics market.
Withings makes iOS-compatible smart connected home products as well as a range of health and fitness wearables such as the Go activity tracker and its stylish Activité smartwatch range. The company's products sync with its Health Mate iOS app, which lets users track their activity, weight, and food consumed, and interact with friends to reach fitness goals, among other features.
Nokia has focused on its network equipment business and commercial VR solutions since it sold its mobile division to Microsoft in 2013. The Finnish firm's most recent high-profile product announcement was its $60,000 Ozo VR capture camera aimed at the film industry, but the latest announcement marks a significant shift for the company as it looks to expand into consumer digital health and the Internet of Things sector.
President and CEO of Nokia Rajeev Suri commented on the acquisition in a press release announcing the move.
We have said consistently that digital health was an area of strategic interest to Nokia, and we are now taking concrete action to tap the opportunity in this large and important market. With this acquisition, Nokia is strengthening its position in the Internet of Things in a way that leverages the power of our trusted brand, fits with our company purpose of expanding the human possibilities of the connected world, and puts us at the heart of a very large addressable market where we can make a meaningful difference in peoples' lives.
The acquisition will see Withings' 200 employees integrated into Nokia Technologies when the deal goes through later in the year.
The Smart Connector on the iPad Pro has thus far only been used for keyboard accessories including the Logitech Create and Apple's own Smart Keyboard, but today, Logitech is debuting a new accessory that uses a little known functionality of the Smart Connector -- charging.
Logitech's new Logi BASE is a stand for the 9.7 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models, allowing them to charge cable-free in landscape mode through the Smart Connector. Logitech sent MacRumors a Logi BASE ahead of its debut, so we were able to get a few days of hands-on time with it.
Made of solid aluminum matching the Silver iPad Pro models, the Logi BASE has a Lightning port on the back to accommodate a Lightning cable, which is used to power the accessory. On the front of the stand, there are three male Smart Connector prongs that fit into the Smart Connector port on the iPad Pro to deliver power to the tablet whenever it's sitting in the stand. The Lightning port is located right in the middle of the stand, something that I found somewhat inconvenient for cable management when positioned on my desk.
A plastic lip holds the iPad Pro in place, and a rubber bottom ensures the stand stays firmly in place on a flat surface made of wood, metal, granite, or other similar hard material. The iPad Pro rests against aluminum in the back, and while this didn't cause scratching during my limited testing period, it doesn't seem as ideal as a rubber coating to protect the aluminum shell of the iPad.
Apple has been cutting down on its recruiting team over the last few months, reports VentureBeat. According to a source that spoke to the site, Apple has laid off all of its contract recruiters and has started to lay off some of its full-time recruiters. Up to 100 employees could be affected by Apple's decision to prune its recruiting team if the rumors are true.
Essentially the recruiting engine inside Apple has slowed down and the company is reevaluating its activities in that area, the source said.
"You always need to have something new coming out to justify hiring," the source said.
Apple has also implemented a new incentive structure for recruiters, dropping bonuses from 40 percent of a newly recruited employee's base salary to 10 to 15 percent. In the future, the inside source believes bonuses could be eliminated entirely. Apple is also not hiring recruiters through its jobs website at this time.
The reason behind Apple's potential recruiting scale back is not known, but VentureBeat points towards ongoing cutbacks in smartphone production and an imminent Q2 2016 earnings report that's expected to see a year-over-year decline in iPhone sales and overall revenue.
Despite the reports of recruiting cuts, Apple has, in recent months, been hiring aggressively for its rumored car project, taking on employees from companies like Ford, Tesla, GM, MIT Motorsports, General Dynamics, Samsung, and more.
With the launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, Apple introduced an iPhone Upgrade Program in the U.S. designed to let Apple customers pay a monthly installment fee for a new iPhone and trade it in after 12 months of payments to get the next-generation iPhone.
When it debuted, the iPhone Upgrade Program required customers to purchase their iPhones within an Apple retail store to take advantage of the service, but as of today, the iPhone Upgrade Program is also available as an option when purchasing an iPhone from Apple's online store.
Apple's iPhone purchasing pages have been updated to reflect the change, with Apple's own pricing listed as a payment plan option instead of the carrier pricing options that were previously listed when purchasing an iPhone.
With the iPhone Upgrade Program, installment pricing on the entry-level iPhone 6s begins at $32.41 per month while pricing on the larger-screened entry-level iPhone 6s Plus begins at $36.58 per month. Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program is unique compared to carrier installment plans because it includes AppleCare+ in the monthly price.
The iPhone Upgrade Program is available for devices purchased with AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint service.
Social networking site Facebook is developing a new standalone camera app aimed at encouraging Facebook users to share more photos and videos, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Developed by a Facebook team in London, the app reportedly opens directly to a camera much like Snapchat, giving users a way to quickly capture photos and videos. Another feature planned for the device is the ability to live stream video, mimicking existing apps like Meerkat and Periscope. In recent months, Facebook has been making a strong push into live video.
The app may be designed to combat a growing decline in the number of photos and videos Facebook users are sharing as focus has shifted towards articles and away from original content. Market research conducted by GlobalWebIndex suggests 37 percent of Facebook users uploaded or shared their own photos in 1Q 2016, down from 46 percent in 1Q 2015.
Other methods Facebook is using to encourage the sharing of original content include news feed prompts based based on interests and location, an "On This Day" feature for sharing past posts, and an option to post pre-made collages taken from a user's Facebook photo repository.
According to sources who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook's camera project remains in the early stages and could potentially never see a release should it be shelved.
For the fourth year in a row, Apple CEO Tim Cook is participating in a charity auction through CharityBuzz, offering whoever bids the most the chance to eat lunch with him at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino. As with last year's auction, Cook is also offering tickets to an unspecified Apple keynote event.
Two people will be able to attend the lunch meeting with Cook, with the experience set to last for approximately one hour. Lunch is included in the price of the auction, but travel and accommodations are not. The offer expires on May 5, 2017, and will be scheduled at a "mutually agreed upon date."
With the expiration date set to happen in May of 2017 and the second Apple campus set to be finished in late 2016, there's a chance the auction winner could be invited to the second Apple Campus, though the auction makes no mention of this.
The auction, which will last until May 5, has an estimated value of $100,000, but bids have already reached $110,000. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human rights, a charity that aims to achieve a "just and peaceful world by partnering with human rights leaders, teaching social justice and advancing corporate responsibility." Tim Cook has supported the RFK Center for several years running and was recently elected to the board of directors.
Apple today uploaded two new iPhone 6s ads to its YouTube channel, highlighting built-in features including Touch ID and the video taking capabilities of the iPhone 6s, including 4K video capture.
The first video, "Fingerprint," focuses on all of the things that can be done with Touch ID beyond unlocking a device, including opening passcode protected apps, checking into flights, signing documents, making purchases with Apple Pay, and starting cars.
With Touch ID on iPhone 6s, your fingerprint does way more than just unlock your phone.
The second video, "Onions," features the 4K video capturing functionality included in the iPhone 6s. In the hyperbolic and humorous video, a child captures her mother cutting onions, which goes viral because of its impressive quality.
4K video on iPhone 6s makes whatever you shoot look amazing. Even onions.
As customers begin receiving the new 12-inch Retina MacBook, more benchmark results for the Early 2016 model have been uploaded to Geekbench.
Based on the results, the new Skylake-based 12-inch MacBook models are between 5% and 18% faster than the original Broadwell-based models depending on whether you purchase the low-end 1.1GHz, mid-tier 1.2GHz, or top-end built-to-order 1.3GHz model. Geekbench scores vary and were therefore averaged.
The low-end Skylake-based 1.1GHz Intel Core m3 configuration earned average 64-bit single-core and multi-core scores of 2,534 and 5,025 respectively, which is between 5% and 10% faster CPU performance than the equivalent Broadwell-based 1.1GHz 12-inch MacBook released in 2015.
Geekbench 3 results for low-end 1.1GHz model
Geekbench results for the mid-tier Skylake-based 1.2GHz Intel Core m5 configuration surfaced last week, with the model earning single-core and multi-core scores of 2,894 and 5,845 respectively, which is between 15% and 18% faster than the equivalent Broadwell-based 1.2GHz model from 2015.
Geekbench 3 results for built-to-order 1.3GHz model
Meanwhile, the top-end Skylake-based 1.3GHz Intel Core m7 built-to-order configuration earned average 64-bit single-core and multi-core scores of 3,023 and 6,430 respectively, which is between 9% and 17% faster than the equivalent Broadwell-based 1.3GHz model released in 2015.
The 12-inch MacBook is now widely available for $1,299 (1.1 GHz) or $1,599 (1.2GHz), while the 1.3GHz processor is an optional $150 to $250 upgrade. Early reviews find much improved SSD performance, but the lack of ports, a 480p FaceTime camera, and no DDR4 RAM are viewed as drawbacks by some customers.
When Apple announced a refreshed 12-inch Retina MacBook last week, it provided several publications with review units to get a look at the changes in the new machine. We've gathered up a range of these reviews below to highlight the general release reaction to the new 2016 MacBook.
The MacBook is identical in design to the 2015 MacBook, but it includes a faster SSD, improved Skylake processor with better graphics, longer battery life, and a new Rose Gold color option. Many of the reviews focus on these improvements while also calling out missing features that many were hoping for, including an increased number of USB-C ports, Thunderbolt 3, and an improved FaceTime camera.
Engadget's Dana Wollman says Apple's claim of 25 percent better graphics performance and extra battery life "are indeed accurate." With the SSD in the 1.2GHz 512GB machine, Wollman saw read/write speeds of 947MB/s and 845MB/s, respectively, significantly improved over the 738.2 and 451.7MB/s speeds of the year-ago model.
In everyday use, I had no problem juggling all my usual apps: Slack, Spotify, TextEdit, Photos, Notes, Messages, Maps and Chrome, with nine pinned tabs and a handful of unpinned ones. Apps were quick to launch, and I thankfully didn't notice any of the hiccups that sometimes plague slower machines; it kept up as I hopped between pinned browser tabs, for instance, which not all laptops do. [...]
How similar is the updated MacBook to last year's model? Put it this way: I was strongly tempted to assign it the exact same score. In the end, I decided it deserved a slightly higher number as a way of acknowledging the extra hour of battery life and considerably faster disk speeds.
Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham said the 2016 update isn't going to please people who disliked the 2015 MacBook given its single USB-C port. Those who held off from purchasing the 2015 MacBook might be interested in the 2016 model given its speed improvements, though, and with the SSD, encrypted performance is much improved. Ars Technica has a wide range of benchmarks that are worth checking out.
If you've already got a 2015 MacBook, this one is usually faster but won't run circles around it. Its CPU, GPU, and storage performance is in the neighborhood of a MacBook Air from two or three years ago. This new release is a solid upgrade for anyone with a Mac from, say, 2010 or earlier, but it's not a high-powered workstation.
If you thought you wanted a MacBook but didn't buy one because you were worried about the speed, the new model's GPU and storage in particular are improved enough that they might tip the scales.
Laptop Mag's Mark Spoonauer says the 2016 12-inch MacBook "better than its predecessor" but "still involves compromises." He highlights the improvements in the 2016 MacBook but notes that Apple didn't fix its biggest shortcomings - port availability and low-res FaceTime camera.
The 2016 MacBook is certainly an improvement over its predecessor. It's significantly faster, especially if you opt for the Core m5 model, and it lasts an hour longer on a charge, all while being extremely portable. I also continue to love the Retina display and don't really mind the flat butterfly keyboard. However, for this kind of money, I would really like to plug in a power cable and a second device sans a dongle, and I believe anything in this price range should be able to power two external monitors.
The Verge's Dieter Bohn said the new MacBook feels about 25 percent faster. He also covers the new "vibrant" Rose Gold color, which can look "either kind of bronze or incredibly pink."
Geekbench 3 pegs the speed improvements on raw processor operations at around 20 percent, but disk-write speeds using Blackmagic saw bigger improvements, as much as 80 or 90 percent faster (reading speeds look like smaller, incremental improvements). Overall, the thing feels about 25 percent faster to me. [...]
My hunch is that if you were worried that the last MacBook was too underpowered for you, the new MacBook will only assuage your concerns by, well, 25 percent or so.
Apple is selling the new Retina MacBook on its website, with prices that start at $1,299. Orders placed today will be delivered in approximately a week, but many retail stores around the world have the machines in stock for immediate purchase.
Drake and Apple have been in a partnership since the launch of Apple Music last summer, with the artist contributing his own Beats 1 radio show to the streaming service and recently announcing that his upcoming album, Views From The 6, will be exclusive to Apple Music and iTunes for one week. In an Instagram post today, Drake confirmed his partnership with Apple will continue into live music as Apple Music will sponsor his "Summer Sixteen" tour (via The Verge).
The tour kicks off July 20 in Austin, Texas, and features the artist Future as a co-headliner with Drake. In the brief Instagram announcement, no specifics were given regarding the nature of Apple Music's sponsorship of the tour, besides the decorative inclusion of the Apple Music logo on the Summer Sixteen poster. The partnership could open the possibility for the streaming service to give fans some kind of exclusive glimpse into Drake's performances, akin to Taylor Swift's 1989 World Tour documentary released last December.
Those interested in tickets for the Sumer Sixteen tour will be able to purchase them beginning April 29. The tour will visit over thirty cities in the United States and Canada, ending on September 17 in Vancouver. One of Drake and Future's well-known songs, "Jumpman," was used by Apple in a recent Apple Music ad starring Taylor Swift.
In a new article centered on the first-year sales of the Apple Watch, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is working on including cellular network connectivity and a faster processor in the so-called Apple Watch 2.
There are relatively easy fixes for some concerns. Apple is working on adding cell-network connectivity and a faster processor to its next-generation Watch, according to people familiar with the matter.
The addition of standalone cell-network connectivity onto the wrist-worn device could bring some benefits to users, particularly those who are frustrated with the current generation's heavy reliance on a tethered iPhone to provide basic iMessage and phone call functionality. Although such a feature would undoubtedly require an additional data plan, on top of one they might already have for both the iPhone and iPad, benefits like using GPS, making phone calls, and streaming Apple Music without an iPhone nearby could outweigh the cons for some users.
The new hints given for the next-generation Apple Watch come on the heels of a collection of rumors that point to the upcoming version of Apple's wearable gaining much-requested independence from the iPhone. Apple began implementing a third-party push for iPhone independency by announcing that all watchOS apps submitted to the App Store after June 1, 2016 will be required to be native applications.
Such updates to watchOS, which Apple introduced in watchOS 2, allow the wearable device to open apps more quickly and provide a smoother experience to users, instead of having to transmit data back and forth between a Bluetooth-connected iPhone. The mention of "a faster processor" in today's report is something largely expected from a product update cycle by Apple, but it should compound the company's efforts to introduce an all-around faster UI for the Apple Watch 2.
Using speculative analyst analysis, The Wall Street Journal also compared the first year of the Apple Watch to the first year sales run of the iPhone, from 2007 to 2008. The analyst estimate puts Apple Watch sales at 12 million units from its launch on April 24, 2015 to the same day in 2016. That number is double the original iPhone's sales of 6 million units in its first year.
The latest rumors for the Apple Watch 2 conflict somewhat in regards to upgrade stats and release dates. One report has suggested that the new wearable will be 40 percent thinner and launch as soon as June, while a more recent research note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo points to only minor form factor changes and a heavier focus on internal improvements. Kuo predicted the Apple Watch 2 will launch in the fall, alongside the iPhone 7.
Specifically, Apple has slightly tweaked the notebook's USB-C hardware by permanently affixing the cable to the USB board. The new arrangement is not compatible with the original 12-inch MacBook.
Apple has also switched from using a tri-wing screw to a repair-friendly Phillips screw, but the notebook's Torx hinge screws are filled with a tamper-evident substance that disintegrates when you insert a screwdriver.
iFixit confirmed that the slightly-longer-lasting 41.4-watt-hour battery in the 12-inch MacBook is not visually distinguishable compared to the 39.7-watt-hour battery in the 2015 model, suggesting improved battery chemistry.
The logic board and other internal components yielded no significant surprises, while the notebook's exterior looks virtually the same beyond a new Rose Gold color finish and an updated EMC number of 2991.
iFixit lists the new 12-inch MacBook's logic board chips as follows:
The new 12-inch MacBook retained a repairability score of 1 out of 10, which is the lowest score possible, as the processor, RAM, and flash storage are still soldered to the logic board, and the battery remains entirely glued into the lower case.
Less than five months before Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, supply chain rumors continue to suggest that the next-generation smartphones will be both fully waterproof and dustproof.
Apple is also reportedly testing a touch-sensitive home button for its upcoming flagship handset, possibly meaning the iPhone 7 could have a flush home button, according to Taiwanese website DigiTimes (via I4U News).
iPhone 7 mockup with a traditional home button
DigiTimes has a mixed track record at reporting on Apple's upcoming product plans, but at leastthreeprevious reports have claimed the iPhone 7 will be waterproof over the past seven months, and dustproofing would be inherently plausible. Comparatively, the iPhone 6s is surprisingly water resistant, but not entirely waterproof.
In September, a source on Chinese microblogging service Weibo said the iPhone 7 will have a strengthened, waterproof frame, backed up by a Fast Company report that also claimed the device will be thinner than the iPhone 6s. Rumors suggest the iPhone 7 could be as thin as 6.1mm like the iPod touch.
Rumors surrounding the home button on future iPhones are less consistent. Back in June 2015, a report claimed that Apple was looking to develop new display technology with "integrated fingerprint sensors," potentially allowing for the company to eventually do away with the iconic home button on iPhones.
Last month, Apple was granted a patent for a pressure-sensitive Liquidmetal home button that deforms slightly when pressed, but returns to its normal shape when the user removes their finger or thumb. Apple has annually renewed its exclusive rights to use the malleable alloy since 2010, but has yet to do so in a major way.
Last week, Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz speculated that Apple will skip its traditional "S" upgrade cycle next year and introduce the iPhone 8 without a physical home button. Apple's single-chip solution for touchscreen and display drivers could allow for a Touch ID-enabled screen, eliminating the need for a separate home button.
After a closed beta earlier in the month, Microsoft today has launched its Word Flow Windows Phone keyboard in the United States iOS App Store for free. As expected, the iOS version of the app comes with a handful of themes for users to customize the keyboard with, along with the ability to speed up one-handed texting with its unique "Arc mode."
Word Flow keyboard's "Light" theme
Arc mode bends the keyboard into a circular shape, hugging whichever side of the iPhone a user's dominant hand will be typing on, allowing for more efficient one-handed typing than a traditional iOS keyboard. Its default interface doesn't differ from other third-party keyboards, letting users switch between tapping and swiping on the fly to enter text.
As with Apple's included keyboard, Word Flow has a predictive text feature, and users can even turn on a word learning option that will bolster the app's predictive capabilities for each user by sending keyboard information to Microsoft. Elsewhere in the app, users will also be able to upload their own pictures as customized keyboard themes, and even track their typing speed once Word Flow is granted full access in Settings.
Word Flow keyboard with a custom image theme
Anyone who wants to check Word Flow out can download it from the App Store for free [Direct Link], although it is currently limited to United States users only.
The CEO of Chinese conglomerate LeEco has called Apple's product design "outdated" and "obsolete" in an international TV interview, following the company's unveiling of its first self-driving supercar in Beijing last week (via CNBC).
Jia Yueting is both CEO and chairman of LeEco (formerly LeTV), often referred to as the "Netflix of China", but which has a product range that spans smartphones, TVs, mountain bikes, and now electric vehicles. The 43-year-old entrepreneur began his career as a tech support worker before building his own IT and mobile company, estimated to be worth around $4.8 billion. The Chinese media company is also a strategic partner with US-based electric vehicle company Faraday Future (FF).
LeEco CEO Jia Yueting (Image: Imaginechina)
The company's smart LeSEE supercar was unveiled with much fanfare at a Beijing event last week. The self-driving car has a steering wheel that folds away and screens that offer up in-car entertainment for passengers. LeEco aims to outdo Tesla's Model S with its supercar, and also aims to bring LeSEE owners into its ecosystem by supplying them with in-car movies, TV shows, and music.
Jia spoke at a meeting of the China Entrepreneur Club, an exclusive summit of business leaders, where he explained why competition in the Chinese market from the likes of Apple did not worry him.
"We think the difference between us and Apple is very large. Apple is a mobile phone company focused on hardware and software," Jia said. "LeShi [another name for LeEco] is focused on the internet first, and only then on software, and finally on hardware."
The LeEco LeSEE concept electric sedan. (Image: LeEco)
Apple only has individual apps. This was the right choice during the first generation of mobile net, when CPUs and the mobile network speeds were not fast enough. However now we're moving into the next era of mobile internet, these problems no longer exist. Moreover, having separate apps just means great obstacles in the user experience. We hope to break down these obstacles.
One of the most important reasons [for slowing sales] is that Apple's innovation has become extremely slow. For example, a month ago Apple launched the iPhone SE. From an industry insider's perspective, this is a product with a very low level of technology. We think this is something they just shouldn't have done.
As an industry leader, Apple should be developing more cutting-edge products. The iPhone was still a leader five years ago after being launched in 2008 but now the concept has fallen behind.
We believe the next generation of mobile internet will be more open, more ecosystem oriented instead of being a closed loop. Ironically, Apple's over-dominance, lack of internet-thinking and the closed off nature of its systems, all hindered innovation in the internet mobile industry.
Interior of the LeEco LeSEE concept electric sedan. (Image: LeEco)
Apple is expected to report a fall in smartphone sales when it announces second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) earnings tomorrow. During its Q4 results announcement in January, CEO Tim Cook noted "some signs of economic softness", but said Apple remained "very bullish on China" given the low penetration of high-speed mobile data usage and the growing middle class.
Apple Car rumors have gained momentum since early last year, when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has hundreds of employees working to develop an electric vehicle under the codename "Project Titan." The bulk of research and development may be taking place in secretive buildings in Sunnyvale, California, where late night "motor noises" have been heard in recent months, while one report claimed that Apple may have a facility in Berlin, too.
Bloomberg has been granted an exclusive look inside a Chinese iPhone manufacturing plant where Apple claimed it has addressed cases of excessive overtime.
Pegatron Corp.'s sprawling facility on the outskirts of Shanghai covers an area equal to 90 football fields and employs some 50,000 people in the iPhone assembly process.
After accusations that employees were forced to work long, grueling hours there, Pegatron and Apple adopted new procedures to keep iPhone assemblers from amassing excessive overtime. By granting a western journalist access to the facility for the first time, both companies appear eager to show how the system works.
In the center of the Pegatron campus is a plaza with a firehouse, police station, and post office. Dotted about are shuttle buses, mega-cafeterias, landscaped lawns, and koi ponds. The grey and brown-hued concrete buildings are meant to evoke traditional Chinese architecture, but the scenes inside them are anything but traditional.
The men and women stare into face scanners and swipe badges at security turnstiles to clock in. The strict ID checks are there to make sure they don't work excessive overtime. The process takes less than two seconds.
After passing through metal detectors to sniff out camera-equipped devices that could be used to leak pictures of unreleased new products, the workers follow arrows on the floor and inspirational posters on the wall. They climb up a stairwell with safety netting draped across the middle, to prevent accidents—or suicide attempts. At a bank of lockers, they don blue hairnets and swap their shoes for clean plastic slip-on slippers. At 9:20 a.m., the 320-worker production unit lines up with military precision in four rows for their roll call.
"Good morning!" they shout in unison under the watchful gaze of the Mayor, who is joined by shift supervisors holding iPads jerry-rigged with black tape. They scan in the workers. Six minutes later, they're on the production floor, assembling smartphones moving past on conveyor belts.
To address accusations of excessive overtime Pegatron adopted the ID system, with badges linked to a database that tracks time, wages and even expenditures on dorm fees and lunch. The Taiwanese company claims the arrangement has helped to push compliance with overtime regulations to almost 100 percent, with only a handful of exceptions stemming from engineers working on emergency repairs.
However, Li Qiang, executive director at labor rights group China Labor Watch (CLW), claims that the ID checks are just for show, "otherwise there wouldn't be so many cases with hundreds of workers putting in excessive overtime hours." CLW claims that base pay remains so low that workers need overtime simply to make ends meet. It said 1,261 pay stubs from Pegatron’s Shanghai facility from September and October 2015 show evidence of excessive overtime.
Pegatron said the group miscounted because that period straddled state holidays, when pay was triple the normal rate. Apple and Pegatron said they were never contacted by CLW, which said it approached Apple but didn't get a response. Since March, the group claims to have collected an additional 441 pay stubs that point to continued excessive overtime. Pegatron said it adheres to the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition's guidelines that cap overtime at roughly 80 hours a month.
In 2013, Pegatron came under fire from CLW after the death of five young workers at its Shanghai facilities, including the passing of a 15-year-old factory worker due to pneumonia-related causes. The boy was able to secure a job at a Pegatron factory by presenting a fake ID stating that he was 20. Apple sent a medical team to the Pegatron facility and determined that the worker's death was not related to working conditions.
The same year, CLW alleged numerous safety and workplace violations at Pegatron, including the unethical holding of worker pay and identification cards, as well as poor living conditions within the factory including tight living quarters and packed cafeterias. Apple replied to the allegations, confirming various labor violations and vowing to investigate the incident.
"The fact they let a reporter in shows that they are responding to external pressure and trying to be more transparent – at least on the surface they're trying to fix something," said Jenny Chan, a lecturer at Oxford's Kellogg College. "But they're still not telling us more about how they run the business, the whole labor system."
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Apple is set to announce its financial earnings results for the second quarter of the 2016 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific, and the consensus among analysts is that the iPhone maker will report its first quarterly revenue decline in over a decade.
Apple has been cutting down on its recruiting team over the last few months, reports 
Social networking site Facebook is developing a new standalone camera app aimed at encouraging Facebook users to share more photos and videos, reports 
