While Foxconn is a massive company that helps other companies manufacture and assemble their products, it’s safe to say that the company is usually associated with Apple. Both companies appear to have a very mutually beneficial relationship where Foxconn handles the bulk of Apple’s manufacturing for products like the iPhone.
However, a report from The Information (paywall) is suggesting that the honeymoon period in the relationship between both companies is coming to an end. The report claims that Foxconn is apparently unhappy with their profit margins that they are getting from helping Apple manufacture its products.
The report claims that Apple makes about a 40% margin on its products, but Foxconn’s profit margins are in the single digits. To help boost their margins, it would seem that Foxconn is leveraging equipment in its factories which are owned by Apple to help other companies make or test their products, like the radio frequency testing machines which Foxconn reportedly used to test Huawei’s smartphones.
The report also revealed that Apple had accused Foxconn of giving Google employees a tour of Foxconn’s factory and facilities in China where the metal frame of the 12-inch MacBook was made ahead of the laptop’s announcement. The Cupertino company had asked Foxconn to see security footage and visitation logs, but apparently Foxconn refused to comply.
Foxconn still handles the bulk of Apple’s operations, but under Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook, the company has been diversifying its manufacturing partners to prevent reliance on a single company.
Filed in . Read more about Foxconn, iPhone and Social Hit. Source: 9to5mac