Goodbye, Brazilian iPhone: Foxconn should stop assembling Apple products in Brazil by December this year [atualizado: Apple nega]

I remember well the year of grace 2011, when I, like you, was still a simple reader of this simple website. It was a time of hope: the economy was (relatively) well, the team had a chance of winning the Cup and the Foxconn it gave the impression that it would be about to start the manufacture of iPhones and iPads in Brazil, which would make the devices significantly cheaper for the Brazilian consumer. Huh?

Well… six years later, we know that none of these things lasted very long. The economy withered more than Fiesp’s duck, the National Team is a symbol of one of the greatest national traumas in history, and the cheapest Brazilian iPhones and iPads were nothing but an empty promise. Yes, they exist, but they never had a penny removed from their labels for being manufactured in the national territory. Foxconn is now feeling the thud of the failed venture.

iPhone 6s with the Brazilian flag

Two months ago, the Taiwanese giant had already deactivated the shed where local iPad production took place and laid off 70 people; now, according to a report from ISTOÉ MONEY, the space destined for the national manufacture of iPhones will also be closed, putting a melancholy end to the saga of iGadgets “Brazilian industry”.

According to a former employee, more than 50 employees on the iPhone assembly line were fired on June 6, after returning from a period of “forced” collective vacation, motivated by low demand. The manufacturing of the Apple device at the plant in Jundiaí (SP) should be completely finished by December. With that, Foxconn do Brasil will focus only on assembling products for other companies – the Taiwanese maintains a partnership with ASUS for the manufacture of smartphones and laptops, for example.

The reasons for the failure of the Apple-Foxconn Brazilian adventure are uncertain, but some factors may be responsible for the ruin of the undertaking: the report talks about promises never fulfilled by Foxconn (like the commitment to generate 100 thousand jobs, which definitely never happened ), as well as the recent seismic shocks in the national economy and a drop in sales of smartphones and tablets. Apple’s decision to expand the manufacturing of iGadgets for other countries, such as India, it must also have been decisive for this closure.

In the end, the fact is that the end of the manufacture of iPhones and iPads in Brazil will not affect the pockets of consumers of these products in any way – after all, as is well known, iGadgets they didn’t see a penny less on their labels after national manufacturing started. As usual, the burden will be on workers – laid off for flawed planning and a lack of commitment to actually making status quo of things. We hope that they will have more luck in their next jobs.

via Gizmodo Brazil

Update, for Rafael Fischmann Jun 27, 2017 at 17:52

To the newspaper Northeast News, Apple Brasil’s press office denied the information brought by ISTOÉ MONEY – without giving more details. We will have to wait and see …