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Capitalism: Check how much Apple is ripping you, Part 2
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Let's focus on three components.

    Batteries

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    DDR4 RAM

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    you can see cartel agreement results in longer chart

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    For example, Samsung used huge money they got during peaks to finance NAND and DRAM new equipment that Apple orders required.

    For NAND same cartel also financed lot of Apple needs (but spent 90% of money on luxury things themselfs, of course)

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    I won't add here changes in CPU contract prices, as 4 core i7 Intel CPU now cost Apple around 30-50% of it's cost only 2 years ago.

    Yet somehow you almost can't see any of this trends in Apple devices prices (or options prices). And note Apple do not get their parts at average market prices, as usually Apple gets one of the biggest discounts in the industry, both for components and even for boards production.

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  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Mac Pro's

    I found the CAS latency of Apple’s DDR4 ECC RAM. How? First I found their upgrade kit, looked at the part number on the memory chips, searched Micron and found the full part number, found their technical doc and found the latency, and whoop… CL22. The cheapest ECC Micron sells.

    Price is around 5-6x of same retail memory and around 8x from Apple contract price.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Most of new super expensive Mac Pro's (all or almost all that ship outside US) are not assembled in US, but Apple use their usual subcontractors (like Foxconn) in China. Apple used to tell that US production is main reason of top prices. Despite this price is the same here.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Apple has informed its upstream partners it will stop paying non-recurring engineering (NRE) fees for the development of new iPhones' chassis and metal frames.

    Apple's products, despite their rising sales, may not always guarantee reasonable profits for the manufacturing partners.

    As it has reached a bottleneck as far as profits from hardware are concerned, Apple is pushing services, cutting hardware costs, and tightening control of the supply chain.

    As far as I talked - no one likes Apple and their approach to partners. Most of the big partners still work with Apple because it brings nice profits from other companies that follow Apple steps.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

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  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Apple is reportedly accelerating plans to diversify its manufacturing risks by removing more of its production out of China, with sources from the supply chain claiming that the vendor is relocating some capacity for iPhone to India and acoustic devices such as AirPods and HomePod to Vietnam.

    All they do is moving assembly lines with low qualified workers to places where it is cheaper. So top managers and investors can get more profits.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Apple is in the market with another 4-tranche multi-tranche bond offering meant to fund the company's upcoming $50BN buyback expansion, and joining Monday’s "burgeoning" IG credit issuance slate.

    This guys are criminals.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Unit prices for some SoC chips used in true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds have fallen below US$1, and are still under downward pressure this year due to fierce competition among China

    Apple chip prices are higher bu still below $3, total cost for one earbud below $10 (assembled).

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

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    Apple is the most profitable company now.

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  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Apple has announced new spending plans for the US, including the establishment of a 3,000-employee “campus and engineering hub” in North Carolina and the commitment of an additional $80 billion in investment across the country.

    Back in 2018, the firm said it would spend more than $350 billion in the US over the next five years, but today, it announced it is increasing that figure by 20 percent to $430 billion.

    https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-commits-430-billion-in-us-investments-over-five-years/

    Huge reason why Apple is making super expensive campuses is that it allows wash out billions of dollars via design and building firms that they use. And the more expensive and posh looking something will be - the better it is. It is long time used approach by many rich people and big companies.

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