(AOF) – Apple is in talks to manufacture Apple Watch and MacBooks in Vietnam for the first time, the Nikkei Asia newspaper claims. This country is already the American firm’s most important production center outside of China, producing a wide range of products, including iPad tablets and AirPods headphones. Apple’s suppliers, Luxshare Precision Industry and Foxconn, have started testing production of the Apple Watch in the north of the country, the media said.
Regarding MacBooks, Apple has asked its suppliers to set up a test production line, according to two sources. However, progress in shifting mass production to the country has been slow, partly due to pandemic-related disruptions, but also because laptop production involves a larger supply chain.
“This network is currently centered on China and very competitive in terms of costs”, specifies the Nikkei Asia.
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Growth of the French market in value
According to the Gfk institute, the sector generated sales of 4.8 billion euros in 2021, an increase of 2% compared to 2020. The product families which benefited from the best performances are in particular helmets and accessories as well as televisions. However, while the French consumer electronics market grew in value last year, it fell in terms of volumes (-2% with 51 million units sold). This trend can be explained by a move upmarket in products: Bluetooth speakers are more powerful or even televisions use more innovative technologies. Thus the development of technologies that improve image resolution (Oled, Qled, miniled) and the size of screens have caused an increase of more than 20% in the average price. Consumers are also looking for more sustainable products.
New ambitions of Samsung and Huawei on the market
Samsung recently unveiled four new laptops after it backed away from operating outside Korea in 2015. For his part, faced with the American sanctions which have penalized his activities in the field of smartphones since 2019, the founder of Huawei, called at the beginning of the year his employees to accelerate the diversification of the group. The Chinese giant recently displayed its ambitions in the PC/tablet market, which is one of the pillars of this strategy. To do this, it will have to compete with Lenovo in China and above all take market share in the United States and Western Europe, markets known to be difficult to penetrate.