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iKill: The human cost of making Apple products

By: , IntoMobile
Monday, March 5th, 2012 at 1:26 AM
iKill: The human cost of making Apple products

OnlineMBAprograms.org prepared a neat dark infographic to illustrate the true cost of making all those Apple products. And while we’re sure other OEMs have similar programs, the Cupertino giant is now one of the biggest companies in the world and is thus getting all the media attention, good and bad. Here are the highlights:

  • The average American spent an estimated $321 on Apple products.
  • The average Apple plant worker would have to do 3 months of work just to afford an iPhone.
  • As of last year, 156 overseas plants produce Apple products, 5 of which were employing children.
  • A third of were negligent in handling hazardous substances, causing workers to become ill.
  • 62% of factories had laborers working over 60 hours a week.
  • 18 workers killed themselves discouraged by the poor conditions at an Apple supplier plant in 2010, and in 2011 – 150 threatened to do the same.

And here’s all that presented in an infographic…

iKill: The human cost of making Apple products
iKill: The human cost of making Apple products

About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • http://profiles.google.com/hetaldp Hetal Patel

    iSucks

  • http://profiles.google.com/courtlandre Court Kuehne

    And yet every factory worker in China would love to work at these factories because it is far better than other factories. Having lived in China and the Philippines, I can only say that I’ve met happier people there with nothing than I have Americans with everything.

  • Tmhalladay

    More crap.  How about the fact that these people live in a communist country which taxes them at 80%.  This alone can account for suicide.  Ridiculous article.

    • Anonymous

       Have you ever even been to a communist country? Maximum tax in China is 45% retard. Go troll somewhere else and google things before you start spewing. Oh right…you’re an iTard so you don’t actually think about things when it comes to Apple products.

  • Jim …

    Show me some facts to back up your claims. You seem to be able to extrapolate a lot from this incidents.

    I don’t doubt that working conditions are bad in China – all over China. We have workers here in the USA complaining of bad working conditions and some of them commit suicide too – I’m not sure that the reasons are work related because they can’t tell us.You don’t by chance work for Google or Samsung? 

  • http://twitter.com/ashchuan Ash Chuan

    It’s alarming but how much of the information is really true?