More details have emerged following eye-opening video footage of MacBook Pro workers breaking through barriers and fighting with guards at a Quanta plant in Shanghai.

While frustration at highly-restrictive ‘closed-loop’ production practices was the key issue for workers, it appears that two other factors played a role …

Video footage (below) has been shared, showing hundred of MacBook Pro workers breaking through COVID barriers intended to keep them inside a Chinese plant. Some can be seen fighting with guards dressed in white protective coveralls.

The plant, owned by Quanta Computer, is operating under strict lockdown conditions which go even further than the “closed-loop” production system used at many facilities making Apple products …

An alleged member of the REvil ransom group has been charged, with $6.1M in funds seized from another suspect, according to the US Department of Justice.

Back in April, we learned that the REvil group accessed systems belonging to Mac assembler Quanta and obtained schematics of the upcoming MacBook Pro models, which accurately revealed the HDMI, MagSafe, and SD card slot …

A supply-chain report predicts that laptop production in China will be severely hit by the coronavirus outbreak and that global shipments for this quarter will be down by anything between 29% and 36%.

Quanta, which makes most of Apple’s MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, has contingency plans in place, but these are not expected to be sufficient…

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Major Apple suppliers say that they currently plan to resume production in China on February 10.

Most large Chinese companies have extended the Chinese new year holiday in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus. February 10 is the government’s target date to re-open factories and re-start production…

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A Hong Kong-based human rights group has claimed that high school students are being illegally employed by Quanta Computer to work on Apple Watch assembly in mainland China. The company was last month reported to be working at ‘maximum capacity‘ on production of the Apple Watch Series 4.

It’s alleged that the students were sent to Quanta by their teachers for ‘internships’ …

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I predicted that the Apple Watch Series 4 was going to be a game-changer, both before and after its launch. Other commentators shared this view, as did reviewers – and there’s now increasing evidence that this is being reflected in sales …

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Predictions for a ‘strong second-half’ for Quanta computer support expectations of an Apple Watch Series 3 being launched in September …

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Apple is reportedly planning to ship the first successor to the Apple Watch sometime next year around the second or third quarter, according to Chinese media source UDN. The report cites comments made during a meeting with Barry Lam, chairman and founder of Quanta Computer, an Apple Watch manufacturer. While it’s no surprise that Apple would be planning to introduce the Apple Watch 2 in 2016, a third quarter release would mean a launch two years after the first model was introduced and roughly a year and a half since it went on sale.
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A report by Taiwan’s United Daily News claims that Apple supplier Quanta will begin mass-production of the Apple Watch in January, echoing an earlier supply-chain rumor from September. It claims that the initial production run will be between three and five million units.

The report says that there have been ‘breakthroughs’ in yield issues, and that the company increased its production staffing from 3000 to 10,000 workers in the second half of the year, with further recruitment ongoing … 
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Following a forum post from a Chinese website, Digitimes is reporting that Apple will indeed ship a brand new MacBook Air with Retina display in the second half of this year.

The Digitimes article offers no specifics on what the new MacBook Air will feature, aside from the Retina display. A forum poster (who has a track record of accuracy) from last week said that the new model of laptop would feature a fan-less design in an even thinner form factor than the current MacBook Airs’ enclosure.

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Mockups: T3

Rumors of a larger iPad have been bouncing around since May (complete with the world’s silliest name). They gained credibility (minus the name) when reported by the WSJ in July, and our poll certainly suggests there would be demand for it, with 24 percent of 9to5Mac readers declaring that they love the idea. There have, however, so far been few supporting specifics.

Digitimes is not always the most credible of sources, but it is today suggesting that the 12.9-inch iPad will be manufactured by Quanta Computer, launched in October and targeted at the education market, citing its usual anonymous “supply chain sources” … 
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In a recent update to its supplier responsibility pages, Apple has listed Quanta Computer USA as a final assembler of its Macs.

Final Assembly Facilities

These are facilities where Apple products are assembled and packaged for distribution.

One of the locations of Quanta’s final assembly is 44350 Nobel Drive Fremont, Calif., indicating that some Macs are or will be built in the facility.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook noted in an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams late last year that Apple would invest $100 million to move at least one of its product lines to the United States. Quanta has assembled Macs for Apple for a long time in Asia.

Fremont may sound familiar, because we recorded more than a few of the new iMacs originated from Fremont after the November launch. These iMacs were delivered via FedEx and had the ‘Assembled in the USA’ moniker not only on the package but also on the actual machines. It now appears that Apple is confirming these products are indeed being assembled in Fremont.

Quanta, it should be noted, has U.S. assembly plants in both California and Tennessee. Previous package slips and Origin labels below.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E5odytJoYmo#!]

The results of the Fair Labor Association’s investigation into Apple’s suppliers beginning with three Foxconn facilities officially published yesterday. While finding excessive working hours and many violations of Chinese labor law, Foxconn and Apple agreed to reduce workweek and overtime hours within Chinese law to 49 hours per week and 36 overtime hours per month based on the FLA’s recommendations. Foxconn will also hire tens of thousands of new employees and implement a compensation package to make sure workers’ salaries remain the same amid reduced working hours.

In the interview above with Reuters, head of the FLA Auret van Heerden talked about the investigation and noted the agreement could set a new standard for working conditions throughout China. One unanswered question is whether the agreement will lead to higher prices for consumers (which is not necessarily a bad thing)…

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Apple’s contract manufacturer Pegatron Technology of Taiwan is unaware of any forthcoming labor inspections at its Asian plants because its client has not officially tipped them about labor audits, according to Chief Financial Officer Charles Lin tells to Bloomberg. Lin was reacting to yesterday’s announcement by Apple of California that the first audits in cooperation with the Fair Labor Association have started at Foxconn City in Shenzhen, China.

Pegatron Corp., a maker of Apple Inc.’s iPhones, said it hasn’t been informed of any pending inspections of factory work conditions by labor groups, a day after the U.S. company said checks would start this spring. Pegatron is aware of Apple’s corporate social responsibility policies, Charles Lin, chief financial officer of the Taipei-based company, said by telephone today. The client hasn’t informed him about any upcoming audits, Lin said.

Apple previously confirmed that audits at Pegatron and Quanta Computer, the company assembling Mac notebooks, are due this spring. The company said the results of FLA audits will be made available on its website at the end of March. In the wake of the Foxconn scandal, a month ago Apple became the first technology company admitted to the FLA. That announcement followed Apple’s release of 2012 Supplier Responsibility Report that for the first time named 156 companies currently supplying components for Apple products, which left only three percent of suppliers absent from the list.

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Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes quotes unnamed industry sources who claim Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer for gadgets, will produce a rumored Android-driven tablet from Amazon, said to sport a 10.1-inch display, with shipments to begin in 2012 at the earnest. Quanta Computer, another contract manufacturer from Asia, has already begun shipping a smaller seven-inch device to Amazon, the report notes:

Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has reportedly landed orders for 10.1-inch tablet PCs from Amazon with shipments to begin in 2012, while Quanta Computer has begun shipping a 7-inch model to Amazon. Foxconn declined to comment on market speculation.

Foxconn of course is Apple’s long-time manufacturer so it comes as a surprise that Apple did not exercise its influence and billions to block rivals from tapping Foxconn’s manufacturing potentials. That’s not entirely unheard of, however…

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Hot on the heels of reports that claim Apple is gearing up to launch a new iPad model this fall, Digitimes reports that Apple will be adding a second manufacture to augment the tablet’s current manufacturing from Foxconn. Foxconn is currently Apple’s exclusive contractor for iPad 2 production and since the plant’s devastating incident in May and with a new tablet right around the corner, Apple is looking for a second manufacture to build their popular tablets.

According to the report, Apple’s second iPad manufacture will either be Pegatron or Quanta Computers. Pegatron, notably manufactures the Verizon iPhone and reportedly landed 15 million iPhone 5 orders for a fall release. Quanta manufactures some Macs and other Apple products. With Apple reportedly gearing up to launch a new iPad 2 model – dubbed iPad HD by This is my next – now is a perfect time for Apple to use more manufacturing power.

The ‘iPad HD’ is expected to be a professional-minded tablet from Apple with a 2048 x 1536 Retina Display. Artwork of this high resolution has already appeared in iOS 5 exclusive SDKframework files and has been a long-rumored feature for the tablet family. This new iPad is pegged at being another iPad model, not the iPad 3.

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