Apple’s China Contortions

Commentary
China has supposedly been good to Apple. A compliant workforce. Cheap wages. A mass market and unified regulatory structure. All fueled Apple’s explosive profits.
Approximately 16 percent of smartphone shipments in China, the world’s biggest market for the technology, are iPhones.
So when Beijing says jump, Apple jumps. The company is now limiting its AirDrop function in China, used by Chinese activists to distribute pro-democracy material. The limitations will extend to all iPhones globally in 2023, according to Bloomberg.
Apple is contorting more than the freedom of speech, and its corollary, the freedom to listen, in China.
COVID-19 lockdowns, labor riots, and supply problems in the country are finally making Apple nervous. The headquarters in Cupertino, California, has started to pressure its suppliers to move some iPhone production to India and Vietnam….