Apple in China

For readers of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs and Chris Miller’s Chip War , a riveting look at how Apple helped build China’s dominance in electronics assembly and manufacturing only to find itself trapped in a relationship with an authoritarian state making ever-increasing demands.

'This is the best book about Apple ever written , one of the best books about China ever written, and one of the best books about tech , period'

‘As Patrick McGee makes devastatingly clear in his smart and comprehensive Apple in China , the American company’s decision under Tim Cook, the current C.E.O., to manufacture about 90 percent of its products in China has created an existential vulnerability not just for Apple, but for the United States – nurturing the conditions for Chinese technology to outpace American innovation . . . [a] persuasive exposé of the trillion-dollar company’s uncomfortably close relationship with the global power . . . what began as a feat of manufacturing has troubling consequences for the entire world’

‘ An eye-opening exposé . . . Apple is notoriously secretive, but McGee proffers dozens of first-hand accounts of how the company essentially bumbled its way into becoming hooked on China . . . As an insight into how this odd couple became so entwined – in Apple’s manufacturing and engineering processes, design secrets, business partnerships and a large chunk of its sales – Apple in China is astonishing . Let’s hope for Apple’s sake that Donald Trump doesn’t read this book’

‘ Explains how Apple became inseparable from China and what the fracturing of global trade means for one of the world’s most valuable companies . . . Mr McGee excels at describing the intricacies of supply chains . . . his timely book poses a question for investors and policymakers alike: can the company thrive without China? If the answer is no, then a failure to end the trade war will bruise Apple even more deeply than the global economy’

‘ Flips the usual narrative about Apple and China on its head . . . forcefully argues that Apple may be the single biggest supporter of President Xi’s “Made in China 2025” plan’

‘ This book is totemic and important, and hits the shelves just as the United States and China teeter on the brink of a trade war. Nothing joins the American and Chinese economies so profoundly as Apple. It may well be that Cook and Apple steer the world through these troubled waters. Or it might be that Apple is sunk by them. We all know that manufacturing, logistics and supply chains are important. McGee has managed to make them thrilling as well’

'Apple is more than the world's greatest company. It is integral to the whole culture of globalisation. Patrick McGee not only narrates the epic history of Apple , but explains how, in effect, it got taken over by China, the world's greatest illiberal power. To call this book a page-turner is almost to diminish its importance. It is a once-in-a-generation read '

' Absolutely riveting. An extraordinary story, expertly told – and one that has important implications for Apple, for tech and for global geoeconomics'

' Deeply researched, disturbing and enlightening , Apple in China reveals how Apple enabled China’s rise, seemingly at the cost of its own future. In these pages we watch as the world's most profitable company gets outmaneuvered by the world's most powerful dictator. Using an impressively broad palette, McGee paints a picture of Apple CEO Tim Cook resolutely trying to save costs by placing nearly all of the company’s advanced manufacturing base in Beijing’s grip, only to find it impossible to wriggle free'

'A tour-de-force account of how the world's most influential company empowered the inexorable rise of the regime that now shapes its – and our – future. Paced like a thriller and spanning the years from before Steve Jobs’s fateful decision to outsource production to more recent times which shine a fresh spotlight on Tim Cook’s careful wooing of Donald Trump, Apple in China captures every twist and turn of the tech giant’s off-kilter and decidedly off-script relationship with the authoritarian state. What will surprise many is how China ensnared a corporate titan by matching and then surpassing its knack for ruthless efficiency and global dominance'

Patrick McGee has been a journalist with the Financial Times since 2013, reporting from Hong Kong, Germany, and California. He led the FT’s Apple coverage from 2019 to 2023 and won a San Francisco Press Club Award for his deep dive into Apple's HR problems. Previously, he was a bond reporter at The Wall Street Journal in New York. He has a Master’s in Global Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London, and a degree in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto. He resides in the Bay Area with his wife and two daughters.