If you order an iPhone right now, we will most likely get it tomorrow. Very little time is unpacking and activation, after which you happily put a smartphone in your pocket. However, few people think about the way overcame the device, before you end up in the hands of the user.
After studying industrial logistics Apple smartphones, edition of Wired has come to the conclusion that the necessary components for Assembly overcomes 800,000 kilometers. The list of suppliers of iPhone components is very wide. According to Wired, the major manufacturers of components about 20. They are located on three continents and two Islands (Japan and Taiwan).
“Many of the components have to overcome quite a difficult and complex journey before becoming part of the iPhone. Parts can move from one country to another, to gather in a module, and then to go back,” explained the authors of the report.
Due to this logistics path components of the iPhone eventually equal to 12 trips around the world.
The Home button is one of the most important components of the iPhone. It begins its journey to the plant to produce sapphire glass in China. The coating of the button receives a metal ring that stretches almost 900 kilometres from another part of the country. Assembled item ships in Taiwan, conquering another 1,500 miles.
There is delivered a special chip from Shanghai. The Touch ID sensor overcomes the 8,000 kilometers from Europe, and plastic components come from Japan (2,500 kilometers), and China (1000 kilometers).
All of the above is sent to the Sharp factory in Japan, where with the help of laser machines module Touch ID make sealed. In the end, the finished fingerprint scanner reaches the Foxconn factory in China where the final Assembly of the iPhone. In total, the Home button overcomes some 20,000 kilometers. Similarly is the case with other parts.
A complete look at Wired travel iPhone accessories available at this link. The infographic below from Business Insider shows where the main components are produced for Apple’s smartphone.
