Apple has moved Vision Pro production to Vietnam, report claims

Now it has upgraded it with an M5 processor, does Apple really intend ceasing development of the current model of Vision Pro? The claim seems to ring a little less true on news the company has shifted Vision Pro production to Vietnam, if only because moving manufacturing would pose such a major cost.

Make it work

I just can’t see Apple swallowing that cost for a product it thinks isn’t selling well enough and plans to stop developing, as some recent speculation claimed.

I am, however, willing to believe that now it has a factory in place to maintain production of the current model it is pouring all its R&D resources into making the AR glasses it possibly hopes will wipe Meta’s model from the face of god’s earth.

The move to set up manufacturing in Vietnam reflects Apple’s continued move toward building a China+1 approach to making hardware. In part this reflects political antagonism between the Western empire and the emerging BRICS economies; but it also reflects growing standards of living in China, where labor costs have actually risen in the last few years.

At heart a good international capitalist, Apple wants skilled labor that is also affordable labor, so moving manufacturing between nations is one way to keep a lid on production costs. (It’s also why the US won’t get some of those manufacturing jobs, if you want your devices to cost less than a car).

Multiple production zones

The move to Vietnam maintains the direction Apple has taken to the +1 strategy. While India is becoming the new US iPhone factory, Vietnam is coming online for Macs, iPads, and Vision Pro devices. It does, however, remain to be seen if Apple intends a heavily automated facility for visionOS glasses production in the US, a process in which it will likely lean deeply into advanced materials production and science.

Though the move to put Vision Pro in Vietnam suggests that while that time’s gotta come, it ain’t coming yet.

Apple also intends building forthcoming smarthome products in Vietnam, recent reports claimed. The company also makes products in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, with other factories in the US, Mexico and elsewhere.

It is also being reported that Apple’s plans for a folding iPad and iPhone may be delayed by a year due to technical and cost challenges. We’ll see if that happens.

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