Apple assembling Macs in Malaysia?

Fun fact: the new M2 Mac minis are manufactured in Malaysia, not China. Apple printed it right on the bottom of the case.

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Don’t get too excited by that. While much of the processing may be in Malaysia, the final assembly may still be in China.

The MacStudio that I received in April 2022 is labelled ‘Made in Malaysia’. However, it shipped from a location in China. That, to me, confirms the story linked above.

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For decades, Apple’s biggest hardware sales have been for iPhones. To date, iPhones have been assembled in China, though for some time now, Apple’s relationship with China seems to no longer be a match made in manufacturing heaven:

I suspect that the very cavalier manner with which China has been handling its Coronavirus lockdowns, which has led to production and distribution slowdowns and shutdowns, is making a problematic relationship even worse.

On the other hand, China is one of Apple’s biggest markets for iPhones:

My guess is that for the moment, Apple is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

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I don’t think we’re talking about getting excited over anything. But it is interesting to note that Apple per mini is now pumping more $ into Malaysia for the assembly of all the circuitry on the logic board than they are in China for slapping together the final parts. Perhaps this can be seen as a neat little trick to avoid tariffs (should they come), but it could also be a sign of a bigger push to slowly but surely start moving manufacturing of Macs beyond a China-or-bust strategy.

I recieved an iMac M1 last year that was made in Thailand.

(Such a computer, of course, is correctly referred to as a ThaiMac.)