On Monday, Apple announced that the Fair Labor Association would be conducting audits of facilities managed by its Chinese suppliers. Foxconn Technology Group, whose factories manufacture the iPad, has come under fire after a rash of worker suicides, fatal explosions and allegations of poor working conditions. Working conditions at Foxconn, however, were found to be far better than other facilities throughout the country, reported Reuters. “The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are w...

Apple on Monday announced that the Fair Labor Association will be conducting audits of its suppliers, and the investigation will include Foxconn’s factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China. The inspections, which are being conducted at Apple’s request, are being led by FLA president Auret van Heerdenbegan. “We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,�...

Apple, a company known for its secrecy, has released a list of its official suppliers for the first time ever. Due to backlash from human rights groups, Apple created a supplier responsibility page on the company’s website. Previously, the page only featured labor and human rights, worker health and safety, environmental impact, and general ethics information. The company has updated the page, however, and it now now includes a list of more than 150 different companies that supply parts for Apple p...

Apple’s LCD display panel suppliers are already shipping panels for Apple’s next-generation “iPad 3″ by the millions according to a new report. Citing unnamed industry sources, DigiTimes on Friday reported that Samsung Electronics, LG Display and Sharp shipped a total of one million high-resolution displays for Apple’s next-generation iPad, which will enter production in January. Volume in November is expected to ramp to up more than 2 million units, the report said, and touch m...

Apple sold more than 4 million iPhone 4S handsets in the smartphone’s first weekend of availability but according to a new report, Apple thinks demand for its latest phone will stall in the fourth quarter. DigiTimes on Wednesday reported that Apple has cut fourth-quarter iPhone 4S parts orders with its suppliers. The report’s anonymous sources claim that some amount of production volume has been moved from the fourth quarter this year to the first quarter in 2012 due to weaker than expected deman...

Apple has secured Simplo Technology Co. and Dynapack International Technology Corp. to supply battery packs for the vendor’s upcoming iPad 3 tablet, Taiwan Economic News reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the new batteries will be thinner and lighter than the modules used in Apple’s current iPad 2 models, and Apple’s cost for the power packs will apparently jump by between 20% and 30% as a result. The report also states that Apple’s new iPad 3 batteries will feature a longer...

Five environmental organizations in China have issued a report accusing Apple of contributing to the country’s pollution by providing business to suppliers that have “public records of environmental violations,” the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. The environmentalists attempted to contact 29 different tech companies in an effort to coerce the firms into cleaning up their supply chains but said Apple was unresponsive. Apple is reportedly taking “advantage of the loopholes in dev...

Hewlett-Packard’s component suppliers are none too happy right now according to a report from DigiTimes. Following the company’s decision to discontinue all webOS device efforts, which ostensibly kills off the platform itself, HP’s component suppliers in the East are now sitting on a pile of TouchPad parts that had reportedly been on order for the company’s second webOS tablet, the 7-inch HP TouchPad Go. Citing anonymous sources from HP’s supply chain, DigiTimes says there are ap...

Apple has inked deals with numerous additional parts suppliers for its upcoming iPad refresh according to a new report from DigiTimes, further supporting the notion that the tech giant plans to unveil a new version of its market-leading tablet later this year. Citing industry sources, the report claims Taiwan-based component manufacturers including Novatek Microelectronics, Richtek Technology, Capella Microsystems and Integrated Memory Logic have been awarded contracts to supply integrated circuits for the iP...

Taiwan-based component suppliers are beginning to prepare materials that will be assembled to build Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 and iPad 3 devices, DigiTimes reports. The report goes on to state that Apple will unveil its fifth-generation smartphone and third-generation tablet in September ahead of launches in October. Details on the devices were scarce in the report, though it was mentioned that Apple’s next iPad may be even thinner and lighter than the current iPad 2 model, and it may also include...

Printed circuit board (PCB) suppliers in Taiwan have noticed “disappointing orders” for iPhone and iPad hardware, according to DigiTimes. As a result, the suppliers have cut quotes by 10% on average for the second quarter, noting that there’s no sign of a rebound. The drop in iPhone hardware orders suggests that Apple’s highly anticipated next-generation iPhone is imminent; it’s largely expected that the company will take the wraps off of the device in September. The PCB supplier...

According to Apple’s touch panel makers, the company has not yet made any information available to manufacturing partners with regard to the next-generation iPhone’s production timeline. This new report from DigiTimes contradicts several earlier reports claiming the iPhone 5 will launch in September. In addition, however, it further supports the notion that Apple may alter its current annual release schedule, which has seen the company launch a new iPhone model each summer since the first iPhone w...

Some analysts could soon find themselves in hot water as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into the legality of “channel checks.” Channel checks refer to the practice whereby analysts contact inside sources at manufacturing companies in order to glean inside information. This information often has a tendency to move the market, of course, but the SEC is now trying to determine whether or not the practice should be legal. “Insider trading basically comes down to wher...

According to hit or miss trade publication DIGITIMES, Apple has chosen several parts suppliers for its upcoming iPad 2. The report states that Japan-based Ibiden, Taiwan-based Tripod Technology and U.S. / China-based TTM Technologies have been named as three initial PCB suppliers for Apple’s second-generation iPad. Four more suppliers will be added some time in February, the unconfirmed report adds, when shipments are set to ramp up. DIGITIMES states that the iPad 2 will be released in the first quarter...