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Apple in China

The Capture of the World's Greatest Company

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Apple in China

Written by: Patrick McGee
Narrated by: Fred Sanders, Patrick McGee
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“Phenomenal…a jaw-dropping book.” —Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Named by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Prospect magazine as a best book of the year, this “scrupulously reported” (The New Yorker) and “astonishing” (The Daily Telegraph, London) book rivets with its portrayal of how Apple allowed itself to become dependent on China for a huge percentage of its manufacturing, making it vulnerable and unwittingly laying the groundwork for the Asian superpower to rival the US in technological expertise.

After struggling to build products on three continents, Apple turned to China’s seemingly endless supply of cheap labor. It soon deployed thousands of engineers, trained millions of workers, and invested hundreds of billions of dollars to create the most advanced global supply chain. These efforts fueled the iPhone’s dominance—but also laid the foundation for a powerful, state-supported Chinese electronics industry. What began as a business decision evolved into a cautionary tale of global trade, tech rivalry, and national security.

Without intending to, Apple helped Beijing acquire technological influence that could now be weaponized—a central concern in the ongoing US-China tech war. Drawing on over two hundred interviews, Patrick McGee exposes never-before-reported details from Silicon Valley to Shenzhen: internal emails, secretive executive meetings, and overlooked voices inside the company’s China operations.

You’ll meet the “Gang of Eight” executives tasked with appeasing Beijing, a Mormon missionary who launched Apple retail in China, and a veteran whose dreams of improving factory conditions were crushed by both Apple’s demands and Xi Jinping’s authoritarian crackdown. From Foxconn and Tim Cook to the Chinese Communist Party and Taiwan Semiconductor, this is a revelatory look at how Apple, in seeking efficiency, became entangled in the very politics it once claimed to challenge.

For readers of Chip War, American Factory, and The Big Short, Apple in China is a searing examination of corporate power, Chinese nationalism, deglobalization, and the fragile relationship between Silicon Valley and the world’s rising superpower. International International Relations Politics & Government China Technology War
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An enlightening history of how Apple enabled China to make its shareholders rich and empower China at the same time. A very enjoyable book.

An important study of history never to be duplicated.

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If you have an apple product, you need to read this! If you are interested in business models , you need to read this. If you wonder about the remaking of China (by 🍎 ), you need to read this. Thinking about Doing business in China, read this! Why care about Taiwan? Read this.
So many years of research must have gone into this book. Listened over a few months as a lot to take in . FASCINATING! Very impressive

WOW!

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This Book is clear and concise and easy to follow and describes how Apple helped (not necessarily intentionally) position China to becoming a manufacturing and technological Super Power.

Extremely Fascinating

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Great storyline so compelling and still very direct including all the historical data. Strongly recommend

History of how Apple unwittingly got captured

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An extremely well researched, thorough and engaging listen that clearly articulates how Apple, through the leadership of Tim Cook, has helped China become a world super power, while turning a blind eye to the CPP’s abhorrent labour practices and growing communist leanings in favour of higher profits at all costs. Essentially, it’s story about greed (Apple / Tim Cook) and power (China) taking precedence above all else.

Illuminating read that’s fascinating and disturbing

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