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Inside 'iPhone City,' the massive Chinese factory town where half of the world's iPhones are produced

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• Half of the world's iPhones are made at a sprawling Foxconn factory complex in Zhengzhou, China.
• It employs as many as 350,000 people and has spawned a mini city that residents have taken to calling "iPhone City."
• We spent a day in iPhone City, talking with residents, shop owners, and factory workers to hear about their lives.
• The story that emerged was one of low pay and long hours, but altogether not that different from other factories in China.
• Foxconn, the workers told us, is no better or worse than any of the other factories they had worked at.
• But few saw a way out of the grinding factory lifestyle in which they work six days a week, see their spouses once weekly if they are lucky, and frequently work dozens of hours of overtime. 

If you use an iPhone, chances are it was made at a sprawling factory complex in Zhengzhou, China, a city of about 9.5 million people in what is historically one of the country's poorest provinces, Henan.

The factory, run by the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn, employs about 350,000 people and produces about half of the world's iPhones . In the busy summer months before the fall release of a new iPhone, the factory produces 500,000 phones a day, or up to 350 a minute .

The Foxconn Zhengzhou Science Park is actually more than 20 miles outside downtown Zhengzhou, separated by freeways, suburbs, and dirt scrublands.

But with a workforce rivaling that of many US cities, the factory has sprouted what residents have dubbed "iPhone City." There, factory workers live in dorms in 10- or 12-story buildings outside Foxconn's gates, while a migrating workforce of entrepreneurs and vendors sets up shop below to make a living cooking street food, offering massages, or selling socks and other knickknacks.

"These places aren't like cities," Thomas Dinges, a senior principal analyst at the market-research firm iSuppli, told CKGSB Knowledge of the communities that form around Foxconn's factories, of which there are 12 in China. "They are cities."

We recently spent a day in iPhone City talking to factory workers, restaurant owners, and the many others whose lives are affected by Foxconn. Here's what it was like.

We got to the Foxconn Zhengzhou Science Park around 1 p.m., just after workers' lunch break. While a few workers milled around the gates, it was a ghost town — an eerie vibe for a factory that employs 350,000 of Foxconn's 1.3 million employees in China.

With 1.3 million employees in mainland China , Foxconn is by far the country's largest private employer.

Since it began producing iPhones for Apple in 2007, Foxconn has faced accusations of labor abuses, poor working conditions, and harsh penalties for workers who make mistakes.

There was a wave of suicides among Foxconn workers in 2010 and 2011, prompting Apple and Foxconn to make changes at the factories.

Another worker killed himself in January at the Zhengzhou factory. Because of the suicide — and reports that the factory had more aggressive security than some military compounds — I assumed we wouldn't be able to get in. To my surprise, we walked right past security into the campus.

Source: Telegraph , Guardian

Spanning more than 2.2 miles and dozens of buildings, the business park looks like any other. Trees are everywhere, police and security guards stand on every street corner, and workers on break camp out in the shade. A decade ago, this area had only dirt and fields of corn and wheat. In 2010, the government bought out local farmers, and the factory was up and running within the year.

The complex was built in 2010 — almost exclusively to serve Apple's iPhone production needs — with $600 million in assistance from the provincial government.

Even now, the government provides Foxconn with tons of support, tax incentives, and subsidies to keep production in Zhengzhou. It paved new roads to the factory, built power plants, helps covers energy and transportation costs, and pays bonuses to the factory for meeting export targets.

During the first two years of production, those bonuses totaled $56 million, The New York Times reported in 2016 .

The government even helps recruit, train, and house workers for the factory during peak iPhone production periods. In the summer months, a speaker can be heard near the entrance saying: "We're recruiting the cream of society. Your personality must be optimistic, your work diligent."

Meeting Foxconn's never-ending need for workers requires considerable effort from the government. The province enforces quotas for the number of workers that local villages and cities must provide to the factory.

In 2016, state-owned coal companies lent workers to the factory. And last year, the Financial Times reported that trade schools were requiring students as young as 16 to work at the factory to gain "work experience" to graduate. In the run-up to the launch of the iPhone X, many students were found to be working overtime , which is illegal under Chinese law.

"Every city's department of labor and ministry of human resources is involved," Liu Miao, the head of a private recruiting center in Zhengzhou, told The Times in 2016 .

Workers on the day shift begin streaming in through the factory's gates around 7 a.m. Those who can afford it ride motor scooters, but most walk from the nearby dorms or take a bus if they live in the buildings farther away.

The factory workers we spoke to — four in total — described their daily schedule:

• Wake up at 6:30 a.m.
• Head to the factory at 7 a.m.
• Eat breakfast and start working at 8 a.m.
• Take an hour for lunch. Most people eat at the canteen inside the campus, but some head to vendors outside because the food is better.
• The shift ends at 5 p.m., but if overtime is offered, most will take it and work until 8 or 10 p.m.
• After work, eat dinner with friends or play video games until 10 or 11 p.m. Then go to sleep.

The schedule is basically the same but flipped for those on the night shift.

Foxconn's iPhone factory in Zhengzhou does "final assembly, testing, and packaging," or FATP. That stage of manufacturing requires about 400 steps to assemble the iPhone. Most workers do one task repeatedly all day, such as polishing the screen, soldering one component, or fitting a single screw into the back of the phone.

One worker in charge of wiping a special polish onto the LCD screen told The Guardian that she handled 1,700 iPhones a day, or about three screens each minute for 12 hours a day.

Others with jobs like fastening chipboards may take up to a minute per iPhone, completing about 600 to 700 a day.

Foxconn employees we spoke to described work at the factory as mundane but hardly overwhelming — more boring and repetitive than anything else.

"The employees always say the people outside want a job," one employee told CNET . "And the people inside want to quit."

Source: New York Times

The complex has wide boulevards for the many buses bringing workers in and the freight trucks carrying products out. The provincial government made the campus into a "bonded zone," meaning the Chinese government views it as foreign soil. The arrangement allows Foxconn and Apple to virtually import and export goods to be sold in China or anywhere in the world.

The "bonded zone," a strange arrangement, is one of a slew of perks granted to Foxconn by the Zhengzhou government. The Times has a great exposé about how it works .

Most workers at the factory are between 18 and 25, though interns are as young as 16. Among the employees we saw over the course of a day, there was a fairly even split between men and women. Most come from Zhengzhou or villages around Henan, a province of 94 million people and one of China's poorest.

Just outside the entrance gate is a makeshift district of low-slung storefronts to serve factory workers who don't want to eat at Foxconn's canteen on campus. Many restaurant owners are former Foxconn employees or people from nearby villages who moved to capitalize on the new factory.

The alleyways of the makeshift village were deserted during the hot, dusty May afternoon. A vendor told us we had come during the tail end of the factory's low season. By the end of June, it's ramping up production for the release of a new iPhone in the fall. During those days, the vendor said, the workforce swells to 350,000, and the alleyways are packed.

We met Liu, a 31-year-old from Qianhoucun, an hour's drive from Zhengzhou. Liu and her husband have run one of the larger restaurants serving workers since the factory opened in 2010. "We don't make special food here," Liu told Business Insider. "We just make whatever is cheap and will fill the workers up."

Like many of her fellow vendors, Liu is from Henan and used to work at a Foxconn factory. When she was 18, she and her husband, who she had just met through a matchmaker, left their village to move to Shenzhen.

The two worked for several years at Foxconn's Longhua factory, once its largest complex. But when they heard the company was opening a factory closer to their lao jia , or hometown, they took their savings and opened a restaurant to serve the workforce.

"People like to work at this factory because you are close to your family if you are from Henan," Liu said. "You get Sundays off, and you can go home and visit your family. That's the perk."

Liu's son lives in Qianhoucun with Liu's parents. She and her husband see him once a week, on Sundays, when the factory is closed.

Many people who work at factories farther from their hometown see their families only twice a year, on Chinese New Year's and National Day.

Liu and the other vendors' lives move to the rhythms of the factory. Running a business catering to the factory's workers is harder than working at the factory, according to Liu. "We wake up earlier and go to sleep later so we can serve both day- and night-shift workers," she said.

The vendors open their restaurant early in the morning to cook breakfast for the day-shift workers.

After the lunch crowd leaves around 1 p.m., they clean up and sleep for a few hours. They reopen around 7 p.m. for dinner and the night-shift workers.

They stay open until the night workers' lunch at 1 a.m., then go to sleep around 3 a.m., after cleaning the restaurant. Most nights, Liu and her husband sleep only three or four hours.

Liu understands the appeal of working at Foxconn, where, she says, the pay is higher and there's less pressure.

Because there are tons of factory jobs and the work is repetitive, you don't have to think, she said — you just go to work and get paid.

"There's more pressure running your own business," she said. "I have to think about what I'm missing. I have to worry if business isn't good."

Liu worries a lot about business. This year, the factory seems quieter than usual, she said. Half of the businesses in the makeshift village are closed, as the district is scheduled to be demolished by the end of the year. But even with less competition, Liu and her husband are making a fraction of what they did in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Liu estimated that at this time of year, the factory usually has 120,000 employees. This year, she said, it seems like half of that.

By way of evidence, Liu motioned to trays of premade food behind a deli counter. Two years ago, she said, all that food would be sold in the half-hour after opening in the morning, even during the slow months. We were there around 2 p.m., after lunch, and the trays were still more than half full.

Liu used to be so busy that she had to have six full-time employees. Now she is down to two.

The threat of demolition has scared most vendors and restaurant owners out of the makeshift village. Many were afraid they would pay their landlord rent for the year and be unable to get it back when the trucks arrive, Liu said.

No one is positive what will replace the village, but Liu has heard rumors that the government wants to turn the scrublands around the factory into gardens. A new airport is situated next to the factory. No one wants to look at a shantytown and dirt when they fly in.

When we asked what Liu would do when the bulldozers came, she smiled as though we had asked about the weather.

"I guess we'll move somewhere else, set up our restaurant, and do the same thing," Liu said.

Every day, new workers show up to work at the factory. As we sat near the entrance of the campus, it seemed as if every few minutes a new person arrived via taxi or bus with a large suitcase and a shopping bag of food. Some come with a job secured, while others show up in hopes that nearby recruiting agencies can get them an interview.

Most of those arriving know about the factory's reputation for long hours and consistent overtime hours. There are tons of factories to work at in China. Many workers come to Foxconn specifically for the overtime, not in spite of it.

"Usually, workers don't come unless there is the opportunity for overtime," Liu explained. "They want the higher salaries."

While almost everyone in the area works for Foxconn, you can tell who works on production by the blue and red vests emblazoned with employee numbers. Foxconn workers told Business Insider that salaries at the factory started around 1,900 yuan ($300) a month.

The pay is so low that the Chinese government does not take out payroll taxes from factory workers' salaries, ABC News reported in 2012 .

But according to workers we spoke to, Foxconn's pay is better than most other non-skilled jobs in China.

The pay at the Zhengzhou factory is lower than at the one in Shenzhen, but many employees prefer to work in Zhengzhou because it is closer to their hometowns and the cost of living is cheaper, they said.

Many workers can raise their monthly salaries to about $676 by taking on as much as 20 hours of overtime a week. Chinese law limits overtime to 36 hours a month, but several reports suggest that workers take on much more during peak production periods.

"Most people want to work overtime," said a 27-year-old factory worker whose family name is Zhang. "If you have something to do, maybe you don't do overtime. If you don't have anything to do, you'll probably work overtime."

After a 45-day probationary period, base salaries can rise to about $390 to $500. Still, the pay this year seem identical to the base wage at the factory included in a 2015 Recode report .

Workers who are willing to take on the night shift can see their monthly salary rise to as much as $785, including overtime.

The nonprofit Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior estimates that the living wage for iPhone workers should be around $650, meaning workers would need to take on tons of overtime to make ends meet.

At 5 p.m., the day shift ends, and workers stream out of the factory's gates. Because it is still the low season, there isn't that much overtime. The street becomes clogged with people, cars, motorbikes, and buses. Vendors set up shop along the road to get the business of the thousands heading home.

A short walk away is one of the sprawling dormitory complexes. There are at least a dozen 10- or 12-story apartment buildings. Small businesses that cater to the workers line the streets. "There is everything the workers could want in this area — food, massages, movies, everything," Ma, a 25-year-old masseuse from Zhengzhou who moved to the area last year, told Business Insider.

Like the makeshift restaurant district outside the factory's gates, the complex moves to the rhythm of the factory. When we walked in around 3 p.m., the area was deserted. Most of the shops were closed, and business owners were sleeping in the backs of their cars, taking a break before the end of the shift in a few hours.

Just a few hours later, the town sprang to life. Street vendors sold socks, smartphone cases, and clothes, and mobile-phone companies and banks offered services to workers getting off their shift.

Farmers from nearby villages try to sell their fruit and vegetables to the workers as well.

Ma said lower employment at Foxconn affected the livelihoods of those in the town. During the summer months, Ma said, she can't get a ticket to the movie theater because there are so many people. But now, everyone is struggling. "All of the businesses here are losing money until the workers get back in June," she said. "They can't afford the rent right now."

After work, people usually sit at a restaurant in the complex to eat dinner and drink beer with friends. At one of these restaurants, we met a group of four Foxconn workers who invited us to sit with them. We explained that we wanted to understand their lives.

"It's a simple life — just as simple as the village," Chen, a lanky, baby-faced 22-year-old from a village about an hour away, told Business Insider.

The others at the table were Zhang, a surly 27-year-old who spent most of his time fiddling with his smartphone; Hu, a 28-year-old woman married with two kids; and Guo, an affable 40-year-old with a set of pearly white fake front teeth.

Guo was an outlier. Most workers at the factory, they said, were in their 20s, giving it an almost collegiate atmosphere.

They had worked at the factory for about a year, except for Chen, who was coming up on his two-year anniversary — an eternity, he says. Most leave after a year.

"After a year, people get bored or disinterested," Chen said. "When that happens, they leave."

Chen and the others at the table aren't exactly friends. They all work on the same team, inventory control, making them "drinking buddies," Guo said. It's a pretty plum job compared with those stuck on the factory floor soldering components.

Chen and the others stock and check the phones after they are assembled and packaged.

But it's not as if they chose to do that. You don't apply for a particular role, just for a job at the factory. The department that needs people is where you get assigned.

"Our job is more relaxed," Chen said. "We can take breaks when we want. It's not the same for people on the assembly line."

But those workers have more opportunity for overtime — and a higher salary.

"Although they can make up to about 5,000 yuan per month, which is quite high in my eyes, I feel that these workers are not in good health because of all the overtime," one worker who makes 3,000 yuan (about $470) a month as a clerk told the South China Morning Post .

According to Chen, the worst job at the factory is the assembly line, where workers do the same task repeatedly for eight or 10 or 12 hours a day. Chen was on the assembly line at his previous job. It wasn't long before he grew to hate it.

"You do the same thing every day; it never ends," Chen said. "After a while, you get annoyed at the thing you are doing. You don't even notice it at first."

Chen added: "Eventually, I felt annoyed to the core of my heart. Like I had no purpose."

But Chen said he was lucky. Because he didn't have a family yet, he could leave his job and go after a better one. Many people on the assembly line, he said, have to provide for children. Leaving isn't really an option.

Zhang had little sympathy for those who don't like their jobs or complain about the overtime hours. He kept repeating: "If you want to do, do it. If you don't, leave. That's freedom. There are other jobs around."

It hadn't seemed to cross his mind that a better opportunity might mean doing a less monotonous job or that a higher salary would mean he — and others in his position — could afford to work fewer hours.

Guo finished his beer and excused himself to head to the factory. He works the night shift, which starts at 8 p.m.

Chen wasn't working at Foxconn when he was on the assembly line. He has been in the workforce for four years, going from factory to factory, moving when a new and better opportunity arises. Chen, like the others at the table, had done stints at other smartphone factories for Chinese manufacturers like Oppo or Xiaomi, at air-conditioning factories, and in construction.

When asked whether working at Foxconn was better or worse, Chen said: "The conditions are all the same. It's just making a living."

Chen's main post-work outlet seemed to be drinking. Over a few hours, he slugged back half a dozen or more pint-sized bottles of beer. Halfway through, he was slurring his words, while Zhang watched and fiddled with his phone.

Others, they said, play billiards at a bar nearby, sing at a karaoke lounge, play sports in the apartment complex, or play video games at one of the internet cafes. Cover at a club in the town might cost about $1.60, Australian Reseller News reported .

But everyone is different. Chen and Zhang were careful not to generalize. With a workforce the size of a small city, experiences vary, Chen explained.

Both Zhang and Chen play video games on their phone, usually the wildly popular Tencent mobile game Honor of Kings . But they have only enough time for a few rounds before they go to sleep around 10 or 11 p.m.

Like almost everyone, Chen and Zhang live in the dormitories. The provincial government spent about $1 billion building the housing to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of workers at the factory. And it looks as if it isn't done — we saw at least half a dozen buildings still under construction in the area we visited. And there are other dormitories on other sides of the factory campus.

Each dormitory room sleeps eight people with bunk beds. Rent is about $25 a month, while internet costs an additional $3. But because everyone works a different shift, the dorms rarely feel that crowded, Chen said.

Others have complained. A Foxconn employee at the Zhengzhou factory told the South China Morning Post in December that the alternating shifts meant it was hard for anyone to get a good night's sleep.

Living conditions have frequently been a point of contention for workers at Foxconn and other Chinese factories. In 2012, several employees rioted at a Foxconn factory to protest poor food and sanitation conditions and overcrowded dorms. One report said the dorms in Shenzhen reeked of rotting trash and sweat.

Those who hate the dorms or have a family can rent a one-bedroom apartment for about $65 a month. But few do.

Though Chen and Hu are both married, their spouses work elsewhere. Hu's husband works at a different factory in Zhengzhou, while Chen's wife works in his hometown. They see each other on Sundays and vacations.

Most workers eat breakfast and dinner at the restaurants near the dorms or the factory gates and lunch in the Foxconn cafeteria. The food is more or less the same — noodles, vegetables, and skewers of meat and fish. Meals on campus are slightly cheaper, at about $1. Food at the stalls or restaurants costs about $1.30 to $3.15, depending on the dish.

Zhang and Chen thought little about economic mobility or a brighter future. When we asked what they hoped for the future, Zhang shrugged. At 27, Zhang seemed to have resigned himself to his current situation. After pausing for a moment, he said, "Whatever opportunity is better, that's the future."

Chen spoke similarly.

"Life was very simple in the village. We never really thought about the future. We just played marbles," he said. "I have no idea how long I'll be here. One day, there may be a better opportunity. If there is, I'll take it."

That better opportunity didn't seem to be a promotion, a different career, or owning a business. In Zhang's and Chen's eyes, it was another factory job, albeit perhaps one that paid slightly better, was closer to home, or required fewer hours.

Zhang's and Chen's perspective is far from the only one. One worker told the South China Morning Post that he hoped to leave Foxconn within the year, using the skills he learned making phones to open a phone-repair shop. Others speak of opening their own business. In Shenzhen, considered by many to be China's Silicon Valley, there are stories of entrepreneurial factory workers who go on to start companies.

But for most, the dreams are simpler.

"I don't have many big dreams," one teenage Foxconn worker told the newspaper. "All I want is to be with the people I like and not worry about food and clothing."

Chen said that most people weren't just thinking of themselves when they go to work. They most likely have children or aging parents in the village who need assistance. If you are frugal, it is possible to save 75% of your salary to send home or put away for the future. But plenty of people spend it on beer and food, he said.

"We have 5,000 years of culture behind that," Chen said. "Of course I have to take care of my parents."

In numerous interviews, Foxconn workers described the factory as no worse than others in China, and in many cases better. Li, a quality-control checker on the iPhone assembly line in Zhengzhou, told the South China Morning Post that Foxconn was steadier than most other employers in China.

"Most of the Chinese factories out there have owners who would delay or even cancel payment of salaries," he said . "Here, I am sure of getting extra pay for working overtime."

Other reports don't portray life in the factory as rosy. Employees told CNET in 2012 that managers would often subject employees who made mistakes to public humiliation. The Guardian reported last year that if someone were to mess up, a manager could force them to prepare a formal apology to read to their coworkers.

Many have suggested that such practices create a culture of silence. And workers know they're easily replaceable — China has 99 million factory workers, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated in 2009.

Zhang pushed back on the notion that workers' situation was bad.

"There's a lot of freedom in this job," he said. "If you don't like it, you leave. If you want a vacation, you leave. You just don't get paid. It's easy to leave. It's easy to get another job."

The harsh reality that emerged in our conversations with current and former workers was that Foxconn is neither the horrible exploiter that many Americans think it is nor the bastion of a well-treated labor force that Apple and Foxconn like to portray.

"This is the case for many subcontractors in electronics," Keegan Elmer, a representative for the Hong Kong-based nongovernmental organization China Labour Bulletin, told Le Monde last year.

"The wages are low, the days very long, the conditions quite bad. The industry wears out employees very quickly and recruits nonstop. For low-skilled jobs, the use of trainees and temporary workers is massive."

But that hasn't stopped people like Zhang and Chen from trying to make a fulfilling life. As we finished our conversation, Chen repeatedly tried to pay for our beers and dinner, telling us it was "fate" that we had met. At about $20, the meal cost as much as his monthly rent. We wouldn't let him, but his generosity remained.

When we asked Liu, the restaurant owner, whether she thought the Foxconn workers were happy, she laughed. "We're not happy either. No one is happy. It's our livelihood. This is just life," she said. "It's hot. We work all the time."

• Main content

The Top 15 Apps for China Travelers

Apps are revolutionizing the way we travel, and nowhere is this more true than China. Downloading these apps before you get to China can make everything a whole lot easier, as it alleviates problems with the language and can help you get your bearings quicker.

That's why we've listed the top 15 most useful China apps for travelers, whether it be language, directions, traveling, taxis, keeping access to your social media, or restaurants.

1. A VPN App — for Internet Access

You won't get very far in China without a VPN these days, as apps such as WhatsApp, anything Google (Google mail accounts, Google docs), Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all require a VPN for use.

We've listed the best free and paid VPNs so that you can start your trip prepared!

Language Apps

2. pleco (free or upgraded version).

In terms of getting to terms with the Chinese language, Pleco is one of the best language-learning apps, and will also save your time if you can't read things such as menus, signs, or can't translate a tourist attraction name into Chinese.

You can either input using pinyin (the alphabetic system of Mandarin), or you can draw out characters in order to translate them. The dictionary from English into Chinese is also very good.

3. Learn Chinese Mandarin (Free or Upgraded Version)

A great beginners' language app with sets of key phrases for the most important parts of traveling. Greetings, general conversation, numbers, directions and places, transportation, eating out, and emergency are all included in the free version.

If you want to take your Chinese learning to the next level, consider paying $4.99 for the upgraded version which also includes vocab lists for time and date, accommodation, shopping, colors, regions and towns, countries, tourist attractions, family, dating, feeling sick, and more.

Navigation Apps

4. google maps (free).

Google Maps is the best comprehensive maps service throughout China, as it is fully available in English and makes it easy to navigate around even if you don't speak the language.

Now google, facebook, twitter, youtube, and instgram have been blocked by China firewall. You'd better get a VPN before departure. See the Best VPNs for Use in China (Free and Paid) .

5. China Travel Guide (Free)

A travel guide with listings for popular tourist attractions throughout the country, including addresses, pictures, locations on the map, and other peoples comments on each of the popular tourist sites.

Great for pre-planning or while you're on the road as this app can be used offline too, which is perfect if you're traveling without much access to Internet.

Transport Apps

6. our train-booking app.

We've designed an app to connect mobile users with our acclaimed English-language China train service, making it easier for foreign travelers in China to book train tickets.

Read more about it here , including information on how to download it.

7. China Metro (Free)

China Metro has a huge collection of subway maps from cities through China, whether you're traveling to Beijing , Shanghai , Guangzhou , or even smaller cities like Harbin , Wuhan, Hangzhou and Changsha .

Even more conveniently, it also has information for Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei if you're traveling off the mainland.

8. DiDi ChuXing (Free) — for Taxis

Since Uber was taken off the market, a local equivalent called DiDi ChuXing has taken over the car-sharing market. Similarly with Uber, drivers will be eager to please and get you to your location for a good rating.

The vast amount of Wi-Fi around the country in hotels and restaurants means that even without 3G or a Chinese SIM you'll be able to request a car, and the driver will be able to find you based on the pin you have dropped at your location. The chat function in-app also means you can chat with your driver through a translation service in real time.

Payment gets taken off your international card as per usual, it's very simple and the same price as normal taxis.

9. Taxi! China ($1.99)

Taxi! China is the best way to ensure that you have important information to pass onto taxi drivers throughout the country about your hotel, the locations you want to go to, and can flawlessly communicate with them. 

It has lists of important phrases and phone numbers so that you'll never be caught off-guard or lost.

10. MoBike (Free)

The bike-sharing economy is taking the world by storm, and the revolution started in China! MoBike is one of the many apps that you can easily download and catch a shared bike ride on. Bikes are found throughout most Chinese cities, on pretty much every street corner.

First few rides are free, and from there on you'll pay CNY1 per ride. You do have to put down a CNY200 deposit but you can get this back.

11. WeChat (Free) — THE Social App

WeChat is the most popular messaging service in China, and is great if you're meeting people in China and want to stay in touch. Even in cases where you, for example, meet a lovely taxi driver and want to keep his contact in case you need him to drive you around the next day, WeChat is the best way to do this.

You can send text and voice messages, and call people for free if you're both connected to either Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G. It can also be used to pay for things by QR code.

Travel Help Apps

12. day tour booking app.

If you only have 1-2 days to visit a city, our Day Tour Booking app is the best way to plan your day trip.

The app selects the most popular attractions to visit in the main tourist cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xi'an, and Guilin. Every stop of your tour can be checked easily on the app before you make your payment.

After you have booked, you will be picked up from your hotel lobby by a local tour guide, and an experienced driver in a comfortable car to start your tour.

Now the Day Tour Booking is available on App Store. Get your free trial by clicking here.

13. Flight Radar (Free or Upgraded Version)

If you're considering doing a lot of traveling by air in China, Flight Radar may actually have more information than the airport when it comes to delays and actual flight times.

Prepare by getting this app, and you won't regret it in case something unexpected happens while you're at the airport. Also great for those with a special interest in airplanes!

14. Airbnb (Free) — for Accommodation

Airbnb is not only changing the way people travel in the West, but also in China. On Airbnb you will find a wide array of accommodation throughout the entire country, including some very unique spots near the Great Wall of China , for example.

Most Airbnb hosts signed up in China do speak English, and you'll also find that many of them are actually foreigners living in China with a unique view of the country to share.

15. AirVisual (Free) — for Air Quality

If you're worried about traveling in China as a result of increased coverage of its air pollution issues, it can be worth downloading AirVisual ahead of your trip. The app shows real-time air pollution levels as measured at different points in the country, with an estimation for the next few days. This can be useful if you're traveling with someone who has a weaker respiratory system.

The app's coverage isn't limited to China though, you might be surprised that your hometown is more polluted than you thought.

Our China Tours

Our tours will guide you as much or as little as you need, so you won't even need to use any of these apps if we guide you through China, as we'll take care of it all.

To get in touch with us about organizing a tour, all you have to do is contact us through this form and tell us more about how many people are traveling, and where you'd like to go.

Further Reading

• Internet access in China is not the same as back home, so make sure you know what you're doing before coming out here. For example, if your only email address is a gmail address, consider creating a hotmail or yahoo to stay in touch with friends.
• For HK, we have  Hong Kong Apps: The Top 10 for Travelers/Expats .
• And if you're going to Shanghai, we've also compiled a list of apps for tourists visiting Shanghai.

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Apple could be trying to ‘hedge its supply-chain bets’ away from China with CEO Tim Cook’s whirlwind Southeast Asia tour

For years, “Asia” for Apple usually meant China . The world’s second-largest economy is one of Apple’s most important overseas markets, and a massive manufacturing hub. “There’s no supply chain in the world that’s more critical to us than China,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said on a trip to China in March. But with China sales slumping and possible threats to its supply chain, Apple could be taking a closer look at new Asian markets.

Apple’s CEO just wrapped up a five-day tour of Southeast Asia, stopping by Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore on a trip that could be an effort by the company to “hedge its supply-chain bets” and “ease the path” for later investment in the fast-growing region.

Southeast Asia is one of several emerging markets, alongside India and Latin America, that Apple needs to target for future growth, says Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.

“Apple’s brand image is perceived as high-end in the Southeast Asian region and holds a favorable position in consumers’ mindsets,” he says. The analyst anticipates “further enhancement” in Apple’s sales strategies for Southeast Asia as the region’s consumption levels improve.

Southeast Asia, for now, makes up a small, but fast-growing, percentage of the iPhone market. 

“Apple shipped just under 10 million iPhones per year to Southeast Asia last year, which accounted for less than 5% of global iPhone shipments. But that was still 32% growth for iPhones in Southeast Asia,” says Bryan Ma, vice president of client devices research at IDC.

But Ma suspects that Cook’s interest in Southeast Asia is driven not by retail, but manufacturing.

“I suspect that an even bigger motivation behind the visit, though, is for the company to hedge its supply-chain bets as the industry continues to diversify from China. That means not just meetings with suppliers who have operations in the region, but also with governments who can ease the path for investments in their countries later,” Ma said.

China is still Apple’s largest manufacturing hub, but the COVID pandemic demonstrated to the iPhone maker the risk of having everything in one place. COVID lockdowns in Zhengzhou, sometimes known as “iPhone City,” lowered Apple’s smartphone production in 2022. Apple later partly blamed COVID disruptions for a 5% year-on-year drop in revenue for the 2022 holiday quarter.

More broadly, the U.S. is encouraging companies to “de-risk” by diversifying supply chains away from China.

Where did Apple CEO Tim Cook visit in Southeast Asia?

Cook’s first stop was Vietnam , already part of Apple’s supply chain. The country boasts a typical export-oriented manufacturing economy, and can leverage its close proximity to existing manufacturing supply chains in China. 

During his two-day stay in Vietnam, Cook pledged to increase spending on Vietnam-based suppliers during a meeting with Pham Minh Chinh, the country’s prime minister, in Hanoi. The company says it’s already spent close to $16 billion on the country’s supply chain since 2019, creating about 200,000 jobs. 

Cook then traveled to Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy and most populous country. During a meeting with the country’s outgoing president, Joko Widodo, Cook said he would consider setting up manufacturing facilities in the country. 

Apple currently has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia. Instead, the company has set up several app developer academies since 2018. Apple said it would open its fourth developer academy in Bali during Cook’s visit.

Indonesia requires smartphones sold in the country to be made up of at least 35% local components by volume, though Apple satisfies the requirement, despite the lack of local production, through its developer academies.

The government hopes the U.S. tech giant will go beyond software. Indonesia’s industry minister, who was also at the meeting with Cook and Widodo, suggested after the meeting that Apple could partner with Indonesian companies to obtain components, even if it does not set up a manufacturing facility. 

Cook’s final stop on his Southeast Asian tour was Singapore, the city-state with the region’s highest per capita income. The country is home to three of Apple’s five Southeast Asian stores. (The other two are in Thailand, and Apple is reportedly considering its first store in Malaysia.)

Upon Cook’s arrival, Apple announced that it would invest over $250 million to grow its campus in the city-state. Apple opened its first facility in 1981, with 72 employees focused on the Apple II personal computer. The company says it now uses Singapore as a regional hub for critical roles and currently employs over 3,600 staff.

Apple’s CEO met Singapore’s prime minister-to-be , Lawrence Wong, on Friday. On LinkedIn , Wong wrote that he discussed “opportunities in Southeast Asia” and “the close partnership between Singapore and Apple” in his meeting with Cook.

On a popular Singaporean radio show on Friday, Cook said he wanted to invest more in R&D in the country. “Singapore has always held a special place in my heart,” he told listeners. 

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How China Has Added to Its Influence Over the iPhone

Apple is taking small steps toward India. But the production of its latest phone, introduced on Wednesday, shows how difficult it will be to make big changes.

By Tripp Mickle

Tripp Mickle has written about Apple and the technology industry for six years. He reported this story from San Francisco.

This fall, Apple will make some of its flagship iPhones outside China for the first time, a small but significant change for a company that has built one of the most sophisticated supply chains in the world with the help of the Chinese authorities. But the development of the iPhone 14, which was unveiled on Wednesday, shows how complicated it will be for Apple to truly untangle itself from China.

More than ever, Apple’s Chinese employees and suppliers contributed complex work and sophisticated components for the 15th year of its marquee device, including aspects of manufacturing design, speakers and batteries, according to four people familiar with the new operations and analysts. As a result, the iPhone has gone from being a product that is designed in California and made in China to one that is a creation of both countries.

The critical work provided by China reflects the country’s advancements over the past decade and a new level of involvement for Chinese engineers in the development of iPhones. After the country lured companies to its factories with legions of low-priced workers and unrivaled production capacity, its engineers and suppliers have moved up the supply chain to claim a bigger slice of the money that U.S. companies spend to create high-tech gadgets.

The increased responsibilities that China has assumed for the iPhone could challenge Apple’s efforts to decrease its dependency on the country, a goal that has taken on increased urgency amid rising geopolitical tensions over Taiwan and simmering concerns in Washington about China’s ascent as a technology competitor.

Chinese companies with operations in India will still play a key role in Apple’s plan to make some iPhones in the country. In Chennai, India, the Taiwanese supplier Foxconn, which already manufactures iPhones in factories throughout China, will lead Indian workers’ assembly of the device with support from nearby Chinese suppliers including Lingyi iTech, which has subsidiaries to supply chargers and other components for iPhones, according to two people familiar with the plans. China’s BYD is setting operations to cut glass for displays, as well, these people said.

“They want to diversify, but it’s a hard road,” said Gene Munster, managing partner of Loup Ventures, a technology research firm. “They depend on China for so much.”

Apple declined to comment. Foxconn, BYD and Lingyi iTech didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Covid-related disruptions have exacerbated Apple’s predicament. When China closed its borders in 2020, Apple was forced to overhaul its operations and abandon its practice of flying hordes of California-based engineers to China to design the assembly process for flagship iPhones.

Instead of subjecting staff to lengthy quarantines, Apple began empowering and hiring more Chinese engineers in Shenzhen and Shanghai to lead critical design elements for its best-selling product, according to the four people familiar with the operations.

The company’s manufacturing and product design teams began holding late-night video calls with counterparts in Asia. After travel resumed, Apple tried to encourage its staff to return to China by offering a stipend of $1,000 a day during the two weeks of quarantine and four weeks of work, these people said. Though the payout could be as much as $50,000, many engineers were reluctant to go because of uncertainty over how long they would have to quarantine.

In the absence of travel, the company has encouraged staff in Asia to lead meetings that colleagues in California once led, these people said. The staff also assumed responsibility for the selection of some Asian suppliers of future iPhone parts.

The company is now increasingly tapping China to supply high-wage workers to do these jobs, these people said. This year, Apple has posted 50 percent more jobs in China than it did during all of 2020, according to GlobalData, which tracks hiring trends across tech. Many of those new hires are Western-educated Chinese citizens, these people said.

The change in the way Apple works has coincided with an increase in the number of Chinese suppliers it uses. A little over a decade ago, China contributed little value to the production of an iPhone. It primarily provided the low-wage workers who assembled the device with components shipped in from the United States, Japan and South Korea. The work accounted for about $6 — or 3.6 percent — of the iPhone’s value, according to a study by Yuqing Xing , an economics professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

Gradually, China nurtured homegrown suppliers that began to displace Apple’s suppliers from around the world. Chinese companies began making speakers, cutting glass, providing batteries and manufacturing camera modules. Its suppliers now account for more than 25 percent of the value of an iPhone, according to Mr. Xing.

The gains illustrate how China has expanded its mastery of the smartphone supply chain, said Dan Wang, an analyst with Gavekal Dragonomics, an independent economic research firm. “That trend isn’t slowing down,” he said.

Through most of the pandemic, China has rewarded Apple’s reliance on the country for manufacturing. Its steady production — even as other countries’ shut down for periods in 2020 and 2021 — helped Apple increase its smartphone market share and sell its most iPhones ever, according to analysts, a remarkable achievement for a decades-old electronics device that has shifted from offering revolutionary innovations to incremental improvements.

This year, analysts expect Apple to release four iPhones that have smaller notches for its Face ID feature than previous models. It is unveiling the phones a week earlier than usual, which could boost revenue in the current quarter by adding a week of sales. It also is expected to increase the price of its iPhone 14 Pro models by $100 to more than $1,600 to offset the higher costs of some components.

Apple expects the iPhone 14 to build on the success of past years. While other smartphone manufacturers are cutting production as the global economy sputters, Apple has called for its suppliers to make more phones than it did a year ago, according to Susquehanna International Group, a financial firm.

The increased manufacturing order is a testament to the resilience of Apple’s affluent customers, whose deep pockets allow them to buy high-priced smartphones despite rising inflation and the economic downturn.

“There’s a huge wealth gap in consumer spending in the smartphone industry,” said Wayne Lam, a tech analyst with CCS Insight. “Apple is safe relative to the competition.”

When the news media and employees gather Wednesday at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., for the product’s debut, Apple will accentuate the phone’s abilities — not how it’s made. The only signs of changes to that process will be visible in the flights coming and going from nearby San Francisco International Airport.

Apple once spent $150 million annually on flights with United Airlines, according to a United promotional banner . Former employees recall that before the pandemic, they boarded flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong in which business class seats were filled with people who worked at Apple.

Now, United no longer offers nonstop flights from San Francisco to Hong Kong. It flies direct to Shanghai four days a week.

Tripp Mickle covers technology from San Francisco, including Apple and other companies. Previously, he spent eight years at The Wall Street Journal reporting on Apple, Google, bourbon and beer. More about Tripp Mickle

Apple MixC Shenzhen opens Friday, April 28, in China

Text of this article

April 26, 2023

PRESS RELEASE

The new store invites the local community to discover the best of Apple

SHENZHEN, CHINA  Apple today previewed Apple MixC Shenzhen, the second store in this vibrant city. The new store will serve as an accessible and inclusive space for Apple team members to bring the best of Apple together for the local community.

“We are very excited to open a beautiful new Apple Store in Shenzhen and deepen our connection with the local community,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail. “At Apple, we’re constantly innovating to deliver the best possible experience for our customers, and our incredible team members in Shenzhen can’t wait to welcome them when doors open on Friday.”

The new store features a Padang Light stone floor and a timber veneer-clad wall — sustainably and locally sourced within China — that maximizes visibility within the store.

Visitors can explore the latest Apple products and accessories, get shopping help from Apple Specialists, choose monthly financing options, and receive personal technical advice and Genius support. Apple MixC Shenzhen also has an Apple Pickup station, which blends together the best of online and in-store shopping experiences for customers in China. The dedicated area makes it easier for customers to order online and collect their devices in-store at a convenient time.

Apple MixC Shenzhen will be an exciting space for customers to learn, create, and be inspired. Today at Apple programming will take place in a roundtable setting for a more personalized experience, allowing customers to go further with their passions and the products they love. Programming will feature a powerful curation of Apple-led sessions across photography, videography, art and design, music, and coding. 

Apple MixC Shenzhen is the 55th Apple Store location in the region, and the fourth store in the Guangdong province of China, adding to a long-standing commitment to local communities. Since Apple Holiday Plaza Shenzhen opened in 2012 — the first Apple Store in Shenzhen — Apple has welcomed 22 million visitors in Shenzhen. The new store has over 150 highly trained retail team members who collectively speak 10 languages, including Chinese, Cantonese, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and sign language.

The store team will welcome its first customers on Friday, April 28, at 10 a.m. local time. 

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Apple CEO to Meet Singapore Leader to Wrap Whirlwind Asia Tour

(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is meeting Singapore’s leader at the tail end of his most extensive Southeast Asia tour in years, searching for new growth markets and manufacturing locations to offset headwinds in China.

Cook will be in Singapore on Thursday and Friday to meet with Lawrence Wong, who is set to take over as Prime Minister next month, as well as his predecessor Lee Hsien Loong, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the executive’s itinerary isn’t public.

Apple’s CEO is on the verge of concluding a highly public tour that’s taken him from Hanoi to Jakarta, during which he repeatedly stressed the region’s importance as both a market and emergent manufacturing base. His company is looking for growth markets beyond China, a traditional stronghold where demand for its flagship iPhone is sputtering . The company is also diversifying its production beyond the communist country to reduce risks at a time of elevated tensions between the world’s two biggest superpowers.

From meetings with country leaders in Vietnam and Indonesia to interactions with local customers, Cook has filled a lion’s share of his schedule with publicity activities to generate interest in the brand, the people said. Apple has already increased its retail presence and output in countries such as India, and is now seeking to better tap a relatively fast-growing Southeast Asian market with more than 650 million consumers.

The trip could pave the way for a more aggressive sales campaign in a densely populated region where Android phones from Samsung Electronics Co., Xiaomi Corp. and Oppo dominate the market , said one of the people.

As part of the push, the company is getting close to opening the first Apple Store in Malaysia, located in an extravagant shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur. Apple currently operates five brick-and-mortar stores in Southeast Asia, three in Singapore and two in Thailand, according to its website.

The Singapore plans are subject to change, and Apple hasn’t made Cook’s schedule in the region public. Representatives for Apple, Singapore’s Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Apple, which has operated in Singapore for over 40 years, said Wednesday it plans to invest $250 million to expand its campus in the city-state. The company employs more than 3,600 people there and said the expansion will provide space for new roles in artificial intelligence and other functions.

“Singapore is truly a one-of-a-kind place, and we are proud of the connection we’ve built with this dynamic community of creators, learners, and dreamers,” Cook said in a statement on Apple’s website. “With our growing campus, Apple is writing a new chapter in our history here.”

In the first leg of the tour, Cook met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Tuesday after pledging new investment in the country. He said Apple plans to buy more components and accessories for its devices from Vietnam’s suppliers, a big boost for the country as it emerges as a global electronics hub.

In Indonesia on Wednesday, Cook told President Joko Widodo Apple is weighing the possibility of making some of its gadgets there. The two also discussed Indonesia’s controversial new trade rule to get more goods produced onshore, one of the people said.

In the most significant policy move resulting from Cook’s trip, the Indonesian government said Thursday it’ll weigh incentives to attract more investment from Apple. Those might include tax breaks, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Panjaitan said in a video statement, adding the country might copy India and Thailand in taking such steps.

Southeast Asia has become an increasingly important market for Apple because of weak demand in China. The Cupertino, California-based company has struggled to sustain sales in the country since the debut of its latest iPhone 15 series, resulting in a 10% decline in first-quarter shipments. Beijing’s bans on the use of iPhones in government agencies and state-owned companies cast further uncertainty on Apple’s prospects in China.

While India is expected to become a major long-term driver, the iPhone accounts for less than 10% of the smartphones sold there now in part because of its lofty price tag.

--With assistance from Philip J. Heijmans, Norman Harsono and Eddie Spence.

(Updates with potential Indonesia incentives in 12th paragraph)

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Apple's Q1 smartphone shipments in China tumble 19%, data shows

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U.s. chip bans not meant to hobble china's growth, blinken says.

U.S. export controls on sending advanced computing chips to China are not meant to hold back China's economy or technological development, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during an interview with National Public Radio on Friday.

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Apple loses top spot in China market with shipments down 6.6% in Q1, data shows

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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

IPHONE 15. People look at the new iPhone 15 Pro as Apple's new iPhone 15 officially goes on sale across China at an Apple store in Shanghai, China September 22, 2023.

Aly Song/Reuters

Apple lost its crown as China’s biggest smartphone seller in the first quarter of 2024 as its smartphone shipments fell 6.6% from a year ago amid intense competition, preliminary data from research firm IDC showed on Thursday, April 25.

Honor and Huawei were tied for the top spot, with Honor’s market share rising to 17.1% and Huawei’s share climbing to 17%, IDC said, while the iPhone maker’s market share fell to 15.6%.

The IDC declares a statistical tie when the difference between the share of revenue or shipments between two or more vendors is 0.1% or less.

“Apple’s price promotions in the quarter were unable to mitigate the impact of the intense competition from Android players,” Arthur Guo, senior research analyst at IDC China said in the report.

Overall smartphone shipments in China rose 6.5% to 69.3 million units, according to IDC.

Earlier this week, data from research firm Counterpoint showed Apple’s smartphone shipments in China tumbled 19% in the first quarter of the year, the worst performance since 2020. – Rappler.com

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iPhone Sales in China Dropped Significantly in Q1 2024

iPhone sales in China declined significantly in the first quarter of 2024 as consumers turned to other premium smartphone brands, according to Counterpoint research .

In contrast, Apple saw its smartphone sales in China plummet by 19.1% year-over-year in the same quarter. Analysts point to Huawei's resurgence as a direct challenge to Apple as the main reason for this, primarily in the premium segment where the two companies compete head-to-head. Counterpoint anticipates that upcoming ‌iPhone‌ models with new color options and AI features could help to rejuvenate Apple's sales in the Chinese market. Looking ahead, the smartphone market in China is projected to see low single-digit growth throughout 2024.

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... they eventually start questioning these specs, people are not stupid.

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