First Look Inside Pegatron’s Secretive Shanghai iPhone Assembly Plant

Bloomberg has been granted an exclusive look inside a Chinese iPhone manufacturing plant where Apple claimed it has addressed cases of excessive overtime.

Pegatron Corp.’s sprawling facility on the outskirts of Shanghai covers an area equal to 90 football fields and employs some 50,000 people in the iPhone assembly process.

After accusations that employees were forced to work long, grueling hours there, Pegatron and Apple adopted new procedures to keep iPhone assemblers from amassing excessive overtime. By granting a western journalist access to the facility for the first time, both companies appear eager to show how the system works.

Image: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
In the center of the Pegatron campus is a plaza with a firehouse, police station, and post office. Dotted about are shuttle buses, mega-cafeterias, landscaped lawns, and koi ponds. The grey and brown-hued concrete buildings are meant to evoke traditional Chinese architecture, but the scenes inside them are anything but traditional.

The men and women stare into face scanners and swipe badges at security turnstiles to clock in. The strict ID checks are there to make sure they don’t work excessive overtime. The process takes less than two seconds.

After passing through metal detectors to sniff out camera-equipped devices that could be used to leak pictures of unreleased new products, the workers follow arrows on the floor and inspirational posters on the wall. They climb up a stairwell with safety netting draped across the middle, to prevent accidents—or suicide attempts. At a bank of lockers, they don blue hairnets and swap their shoes for clean plastic slip-on slippers. At 9:20 a.m., the 320-worker production unit lines up with military precision in four rows for their roll call.

“Good morning!” they shout in unison under the watchful gaze of the Mayor, who is joined by shift supervisors holding iPads jerry-rigged with black tape. They scan in the workers. Six minutes later, they’re on the production floor, assembling smartphones moving past on conveyor belts.

To address accusations of excessive overtime Pegatron adopted the ID system, with badges linked to a database that tracks time, wages and even expenditures on dorm fees and lunch. The Taiwanese company claims the arrangement has helped to push compliance with overtime regulations to almost 100 percent, with only a handful of exceptions stemming from engineers working on emergency repairs.

Image: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
However, Li Qiang, executive director at labor rights group China Labor Watch (CLW), claims that the ID checks are just for show, “otherwise there wouldn’t be so many cases with hundreds of workers putting in excessive overtime hours.” CLW claims that base pay remains so low that workers need overtime simply to make ends meet. It said 1,261 pay stubs from Pegatron’s Shanghai facility from September and October 2015 show evidence of excessive overtime.

Pegatron said the group miscounted because that period straddled state holidays, when pay was triple the normal rate. Apple and Pegatron said they were never contacted by CLW, which said it approached Apple but didn’t get a response. Since March, the group claims to have collected an additional 441 pay stubs that point to continued excessive overtime. Pegatron said it adheres to the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition’s guidelines that cap overtime at roughly 80 hours a month.

In 2013, Pegatron came under fire from CLW after the death of five young workers at its Shanghai facilities, including the passing of a 15-year-old factory worker due to pneumonia-related causes. The boy was able to secure a job at a Pegatron factory by presenting a fake ID stating that he was 20. Apple sent a medical team to the Pegatron facility and determined that the worker’s death was not related to working conditions.

The same year, CLW alleged numerous safety and workplace violations at Pegatron, including the unethical holding of worker pay and identification cards, as well as poor living conditions within the factory including tight living quarters and packed cafeterias. Apple replied to the allegations, confirming various labor violations and vowing to investigate the incident.

“The fact they let a reporter in shows that they are responding to external pressure and trying to be more transparent – at least on the surface they’re trying to fix something,” said Jenny Chan, a lecturer at Oxford’s Kellogg College. “But they’re still not telling us more about how they run the business, the whole labor system.”

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: supplier responsibility, pegatron
Discuss this article in our forums

Electric Car Challenger LeEco Calls Apple Product Design ‘Obsolete’

The CEO of Chinese conglomerate LeEco has called Apple’s product design “outdated” and “obsolete” in an international TV interview, following the company’s unveiling of its first self-driving supercar in Beijing last week (via CNBC).

Jia Yueting is both CEO and chairman of LeEco (formerly LeTV), often referred to as the “Netflix of China”, but which has a product range that spans smartphones, TVs, mountain bikes, and now electric vehicles. The 43-year-old entrepreneur began his career as a tech support worker before building his own IT and mobile company, estimated to be worth around $4.8 billion. The Chinese media company is also a strategic partner with US-based electric vehicle company Faraday Future (FF).

LeEco CEO Jia Yueting (Image: Imaginechina)
The company’s smart LeSEE supercar was unveiled with much fanfare at a Beijing event last week. The self-driving car has a steering wheel that folds away and screens that offer up in-car entertainment for passengers. LeEco aims to outdo Tesla’s Model S with its supercar, and also aims to bring LeSEE owners into its ecosystem by supplying them with in-car movies, TV shows, and music.

Jia spoke at a meeting of the China Entrepreneur Club, an exclusive summit of business leaders, where he explained why competition in the Chinese market from the likes of Apple did not worry him.

“We think the difference between us and Apple is very large. Apple is a mobile phone company focused on hardware and software,” Jia said. “LeShi [another name for LeEco] is focused on the internet first, and only then on software, and finally on hardware.”

The LeEco LeSEE concept electric sedan. (Image: LeEco)

Apple only has individual apps. This was the right choice during the first generation of mobile net, when CPUs and the mobile network speeds were not fast enough. However now we’re moving into the next era of mobile internet, these problems no longer exist. Moreover, having separate apps just means great obstacles in the user experience. We hope to break down these obstacles.

One of the most important reasons [for slowing sales] is that Apple’s innovation has become extremely slow. For example, a month ago Apple launched the iPhone SE. From an industry insider’s perspective, this is a product with a very low level of technology. We think this is something they just shouldn’t have done.

As an industry leader, Apple should be developing more cutting-edge products. The iPhone was still a leader five years ago after being launched in 2008 but now the concept has fallen behind.

We believe the next generation of mobile internet will be more open, more ecosystem oriented instead of being a closed loop. Ironically, Apple’s over-dominance, lack of internet-thinking and the closed off nature of its systems, all hindered innovation in the internet mobile industry.

Interior of the LeEco LeSEE concept electric sedan. (Image: LeEco)
Apple is expected to report a fall in smartphone sales when it announces second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) earnings tomorrow. During its Q4 results announcement in January, CEO Tim Cook noted “some signs of economic softness”, but said Apple remained “very bullish on China” given the low penetration of high-speed mobile data usage and the growing middle class.

Apple Car rumors have gained momentum since early last year, when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has hundreds of employees working to develop an electric vehicle under the codename “Project Titan.” The bulk of research and development may be taking place in secretive buildings in Sunnyvale, California, where late night “motor noises” have been heard in recent months, while one report claimed that Apple may have a facility in Berlin, too.

Related Roundup: Apple Car
Tag: LeEco
Discuss this article in our forums

Harman Kardon Go + Play shows there’s still interest in quality Bluetooth speakers

Harman Kardon has refreshed its high-end portable speaker with a more elegant look, quad drivers and the ability to wirelessly connect up to three devices at a time. That includes iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

The latest in the Harman Kardon Go + Play range comes with Bluetooth connectivity and a USB charge port if you want to pour some power into your smartphone or tablet – even when the speaker system is not plugged in.

It comes with a built-in Li-ion battery that can be used to keep your smart devices topped up. What’s more, one full charge of the portable speaker can last up to eight hours of music playback.

The Go + Play also has two microphones for conference calls, which feature echo and noise cancelling technology to ensure that voice transmission is crystal clear.

You can also connect two external Harman Kardon Wireless Dual Sound-enabled speakers to give an even wider soundfield.

The speaker has a stainless steel carrying handle built into the design so you can take it from room to room easily.

“It is a natural and beautiful addition to any room in the home, office or on the go,” said Harman’s head of portables, Andy Tsui.

The Harman Kardon Go + Play speaker will be available in black or white from the company’s own website and select retailers May for £249.99.

Xiaomi’s massive Mi Max will make its debut on May 10

After teasing the Mi Max phablet yesterday, Xiaomi has announced on Weibo that the phone will be officially unveiled on May 10. The phone is expected to feature a 6.4-inch display, and benchmarks suggest that it will sport a Snapdragon 650.

It looks like the Mi Max will slot in between the budget Redmi series and the flagship Mi 5, offering customers a 6.4-inch Full HD display. With the launch a few weeks away, we should know more about what’s on offer shortly.

What would you like to see in a mid-range phone with a 6.4-inch screen?

Understanding 4G in the UK: Everything you need to know

Cutting through the technobabble.

Everyone knows 4G comes after 3G. It’s faster, better, not to mention more expensive. But “4G” can refer to a bunch of different things, and the various UK operators use 4G in different ways to offer different features to customers.

It can all be a bit confusing, but we’ve brought together all the major details of how 4G works in the United Kingdom to help you understand how it all works — and how it affects you and your phone.

What is 4G?

4G is the latest standard for sending and receiving data on mobile networks, and has the benefit of being significantly faster than the 3G networks that came before it. In the UK, it’s been available since EE launched the country’s first 4G network in late 2012. All four major UK network operators now offer 4G coverage of some sort.

The definition of 4G varies depending on who you ask. Strictly speaking, 4G doesn’t apply to any particular type of technology, but what a mobile data network is capable of doing. The ITU (International Telecommunications Union) has its own set of requirements for what makes a network “4G,” including 100Mbps data speeds when mobile, and 1Gbps when stationary.

4G has a bunch of different meanings, but in the UK we use it to refer to fast LTE networks

But in most countries including the UK, the term “4G” refers to a standard called LTE (Long Term Evolution) that fulfills some, but not all of the ITU’s requirements for a 4G network. So really, the decision to call something “4G” as opposed to 3.5G (or something else entirely), comes down to marketing. It’s easier to appreciate 4G as being faster than 3G, even though, strictly speaking, no current LTE networks meet all the ITU’s 4G requirements.

(In some other countries, the “4G” branding is applied to different technologies like HSPA+ — which in the UK is considered to be 3G — and Wimax, which was never rolled out here.)

Compared to 3G standards, LTE has greater capacity, transferring data more quickly over the airwaves. LTE also allows for lower latency — the amount of time it takes for one packet of data to reach its destination — and smoother handoffs between masts, so you’re less likely to lose connectivity on the go.

In real terms, this means it’s much easier to stream music and video on 4G networks compared to 3G, with a faster, more reliable network ensuring smooth playback without buffering or stuttering. Files download faster, with fewer failures, and image-rich websites load much more quickly.

Frequencies and bands

Even when you’re dealing exclusively with LTE, not all 4G networks are the same. The major UK carriers — EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three — operate on different radio frequencies (“bands”), and have different portions of spectrum available to them on each band.

The three main LTE bands in use in the UK right now are:

• Band 20 (800MHz)
• Band 3 (1800MHz)
• Band 7 (2600MHz)

Different frequency bands have their own advantages and disadvantages. Lower frequencies like 800MHz are capable of transmitting over a wider area and are affected less by thick walls and buildings. Higher frequencies like 2600MHz can transfer data more quickly, but over a shorter distance, and are more susceptible to interference.

Different frequencies have their own advantages and disadvantages.

As such, lower frequencies are often used in rural areas, where one mast can cover a wide area where people are more spread out. And higher frequencies are often used in big cities, where the demand for high-speed data is greater, and it’s easier to have several smaller towers covering one area.

Here’s how the main four UK network operators divide up in terms of LTE bands:

Not all 4G phones support all LTE bands, but most current 4G handsets sold in the UK support at least the main three — bands 3, 7 and 20. (The major exception is the four-year-old iPhone 5, which only works on Band 3.)

This means if you’re bringing a phone from abroad into the UK and want 4G coverage, you’ll need to make sure it supports whichever bands your chosen operator uses. If it supports some, but not all bands — for example, many North American Android phones support Band 3 but not Band 20 — you may only get partial 4G coverage.

Different flavors of 4G

There are a couple of things that can affect data speeds on 4G networks, besides the usual factors like the strength of your signal and how many other people are using the network.

The first is the amount of spectrum available to your operator. This varies for each company, with a bigger “slice” of spectrum allowing more data to be transferred at once.

The second is the “category” of LTE being used, which determines the maximum possible throughput. At the time of writing, O2 and Three have launched LTE Cat. 3 (up to 100Mbps), while Vodafone and EE have launched Cat. 6 LTE (up to 300Mbps).

(To take advantage of higher Cat. 6 speeds, you’ll need a phone that supports the standard.)

What about ‘Double Speed’ 4G?

“Double speed” 4G is EE’s way of taking advantage of its lead in 4G spectrum. Because it has a 20MHz available on Band 7 and Band 3, it offers customers two speed options: 2x10MHz for “normal speed” customers, and 2x20MHz for “double speed” customers.

From there, it’s pretty simple — double-speed customers have twice as much spectrum available to them, and as such can enjoy data speeds twice as fast as normal.

It’s worth remembering that “double speed” isn’t a standard in itself, nor are there any special handset requirements needed to use it. It’s just EE’s way of describing how it’s offering two different speed tiers to customers.

Understanding 4G+

Think of 4G+ as adding additional lanes of traffic to a road.

4G+ is the friendly marketing name used by most UK and European operators for what’s technically termed LTE-Advanced. The big advantage here is that it allows operators with two (or more) slices of spectrum in different bands to combine them into one extra-large slice, known as carrier aggregation. It’s like adding additional lanes of traffic to a road.

Right now only EE and Vodafone have launched 4G+ in the UK — EE on band 3 + band 7, Vodafone on band 7 + band 20.

Not all 4G phones support 4G+, and not all phones that do support 4G+ automatically support all combinations of bands. (EE has a list of compatible phones here) That said, if you’re buying a high-end phone in the UK and it does do 4G+, chances are it’ll support 4G+ on both EE and Vodafone.

Voice over LTE (VoLTE)

VoLTE is what’s next for good old-fashioned phone calls, with calls being made over the 4G network as opposed to the older 3G or GSM networks. This allows for clearer audio for calls with less interference, and in the long-term gives operators a way to free up extra spectrum for 4G, as fewer customers are using those airwaves for old-style voice calls.

All the major UK operators will eventually have VoLTE.

All the major UK networks have committed to launching VoLTE, though the marketing terms differ slightly between networks. (On Three it’s “4G Super-Voice,” on Vodafone it’s “Voice over 4G,” for example.)

Three is the first provider to have launched VoLTE, and EE is continuing its nationwide trial at the time of writing.

As with other types of LTE technology, just because a phone supports LTE doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll do voice over LTE. (And even then you won’t necessarily get VoLTE everywhere you get a 4G signal.) While many newer, high-end handsets do support VoLTE, you may need to update your firmware before it’ll work.

Does using 4G drain a phone’s battery?

In the early days of 4G, there was often a sizeable battery hit involved with using high-speed LTE networks. More recently, with newer and more efficient radio hardware in phones — not to mention more widespread LTE coverage and stronger 4G signals — the difference is much less noticeable.

While you may notice a slight battery life gain by disabling 4G, generally it’s advisable to keep it turned on, as it’s supposed to be. The only exception is you’re spending a lot of time an area with very weak, unusable 4G coverage — or you know for a fact your area doesn’t have 4G, and won’t be getting it anytime soon.

While sending and receiving data over the mobile network can contribute to battery drain, other factors like screen brightness, background app usage and the age of your phone can play a much larger role.

Xiaomi CEO shows off Mi Band 2 with LCD display, physical buttons

It looks like Xiaomi’s getting ready to unveil the Mi Band 2. CEO Lei Jun teased the wearable at a conference in China, revealing an LCD display and physical buttons.

From MyDrivers:

The display on the Mi Band 2 will likely cycle through daily steps taken, BPM, and the time, with the physical button allowing users to toggle through different modes. The image shows that the Mi Band 2 will utilize a rubber strap that’s similar to the one on its predecessor.

The $15 Mi Band has been a huge success for Xiaomi, and the addition of a display in the successor is a welcome move. There’s no mention of a launch date, but with the vendor set to announce the 6.4-inch Mi Max on May 10, it is likely we’ll see the Mi Band 2 make its debut at the same event.

Honor V8 with dual camera setup breaks cover at TENAA

Honor’s getting into the spirit of naming phones after automobile engines, with the vendor’s upcoming V8 passing certification at TENAA. Based on the certification, it looks like Honor will offer two variants of the V8: a KNT-AL10 model with a 5.7-inch Full HD display, 2.3GHz octa-core CPU, and 32GB storage; and a KNT-AL20 version with a QHD display, 2.5GHz octa-core CPU, and 64GB storage.

From TENAA:

As highlighted in the certification images, the Honor V8 will be available in rose gold, with gold and silver options also available. Other specs include 4GB of RAM, 12MP dual camera setup at the back, 8MP front shooter, 3400mAh battery, fingerprint scanner at the back, and Marshmallow.

The phone is slated to make its debut in China on May 10, which is the same day Xiaomi plans to launch its Mi Max phablet. What do you guys make of the phone?

EE plans to have 95% of the UK covered with 4G by 2020

EE has announced the UK mobile operator is set to increase 4G coverage to 95% and bring back customer support to within country borders. The company will introduce 600 new positions across the UK and Ireland, which should please customers who both expect and appreciate customer support based in the UK.

By 2020 EE hopes to have around 95% of the UK covered with 4G with a focus on eradicating parts of the country that have next to no signal coverage. With the backing of BT post-purchase, the mobile network will have the resources to ramp up network enhancements and extension. All customer calls will be answered within the UK and Ireland by the end of 2016.

Build the perfect website with the WordPress Wizard Bundle

Strong design and management are essential for a successful site, and the WordPress Wizard Bundle provides the skills to accomplish both.

You can transform your ambitions into a high-quality professional site through 12 essential courses, at an appealing 95 per cent off from Pocket-lint Deals.

Start with a foundational mastery of WordPress, familiarizing yourself with the best commercial themes before moving on to the tricks of the SEO trade. Soon you’ll have the full toolkit to manage everything from shopping carts to user newsletters and more. Using the Genesis theme framework, you’ll master the ways to make your site immersive and engaging, with features like email subscription bars, homepage widgets and beyond.

The WordPress Wizard Bundle also walks you through the construction of native mobile apps, with zero coding required.

Courses include:

Become a WordPress and WordPress Nirvana Expert Course
How I Make $4000 Each Month Blogging
Learn WordPress by Building 2 Responsive Websites
Make an App for Your WordPress Website
Creating a Business Website with a Responsive Design
Build Your Brand: Blogging, SEO, Social Media and Relationships
Bootstrap to WordPress: Build Custom Responsive Themes
Talking With Clients – Creating a WordPress Website
WishList Member and WordPress: Create a Membership Site
Develop WordPress Sites and Earn Money With Affiliate Programs
WordPress E-Commerce with WooCommerce
Build a Money Making Website For Beginners: Work From Home

Develop effective techniques to monetize your blog and engage in affiliate programs without the pitfalls of endless promotion funding. Get started today for just £33.86 ($49) from Pocket-lint Deals.

Microsoft Surface Phone might be first to bring 8GB of RAM and Snapdragon 830

The Microsoft Surface Phone could come packing some world-first specs that blow away anything out there right now. Namely that’s 8GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 CPU.

Before getting too excited know that these claims are based on a Windows 10 compatibility listing. Found on Microsoft’s minimum hardware requirements page is a list of compatible chipsets for Windows 10, and here Forbes found the MSM8998. This is thought to be Qualcomm’s next flagship CPU, the Snapdragon 830.

It was from that Snapdragon 830 CPU find that the jump to 8GB of RAM was made, as this chip is expected, by analysts, to support that much.

While all these presumptions require a little hope, that 8GB of RAM is very possible. Microsoft is focusing on a single platform in Windows 10 that works across hardware. Where smartphones are the weakest it makes sense to bulk performance there so Windows 10 can be all it can be in all hardware guises.

Samsung is also rumoured to push out as much as 8GB of RAM in its next Galaxy Note 6 phablet smartphone.

This much RAM, which would put these handsets above some computers for specs, is starting to make sense for gaming, multitasking and video editing support. Since Windows 10 can be used with Continuum to make the smartphone a PC, effectively, the more RAM the better.

Expect to see more on the Microsoft Surface phone as the expected announcement in October gets nearer.

READ: Best smartphones to look forward to in 2016