Citing unnamed “industry sources,” the report states that the device manufacturer has cut its smartphone shipment increase in half, down to 10-15% from 20-30%. In addition, the company is reported to have suspended development on “a number” of new models that were set to launch in 2013.

2012 was a tough year for HTC. The Taiwanese smartphone maker saw its share of global smartphone shipments fall to 7.3% in the third quarter of 2012, down from 11.8% in 2011. In addition, the company’s profits in the third quarter of 2013 were down 79% from the third quarter of 2011.

Most of the reason for HTC’s poor performance can be attributed to Apple’s continued dominance in the smartphone market, as well as Samsung’s rise this year as the top Android handset manufacturer and Apple’s main competition. HTC’s flagship Android smartphone, the HTC One X, launched on only a few U.S. carriers and failed to gain popularity in the country as Samsung’s Galaxy S III sales began to skyrocket. HTC also released several Windows Phone 8 smartphones which, while scoring high in customer satisfaction, were doomed to relatively poor sales along with other Windows Phone 8 devices.

HTC isn’t alone in its smartphone struggles. Nokia has also bet big on Windows Phone 8 taking off while watching its smartphone market share plunge, and RIM is hoping that its upcoming BlackBerry 10 launch will save it from obsolescence and bankruptcy. Next year will see the sorting out which companies have the designs and technology to challenge the big two of Apple and Samsung.

(via BGR)

In August, human rights organization China Labor Watch published an investigative report into a factory that supplies components to Samsung, accusing the factory of hiring children under the age of 16. In September, another China Labor Watch report contained more allegations of underage workers at several Samsung factories in China, as well as forced overtime and unsafe working conditions.

At the time, Samsung stated that it would conduct its own reviews of Chinese manufacturing facilities and re-evaluate its working hour practices. Today, it seems the review process is over and the company will be taking action to ensure that its manufacturing processes are humane.

Samsung today announced that its four-week audit of 105 suppliers found “several instances of inadequate practices,” though no underage workers were identified. The company found overtime hours “in excess of local regulations” and workers being fined for lateness or absences.

In response, Samsung is putting in place new hiring policies and overtime practices for its suppliers. Though Samsung did not find evidence of child labor, the new hiring process will require all employee candidates to be interviewed in person and will require suppliers to use electronics to detect fake IDs.

By the end of 2012, Samsung has committed to forcing suppliers to distribute labor contracts to employees; abolish fine systems; provide adequate safety equipment and training; and provide more management training on sexual harassment and physical and verbal abuse. In addition, hotlines are being deployed at the subsidiaries for employees to make anonymous reports of labor violations or inhumane treatment.

It seems that excessive working hours are still going to be the norm at Samsung factories, though, at least for a while. Though the company stated that it has “identified the need for initiatives to reduce employee overtime as a top priority,” working hours that extend beyond legal limits won’t be eliminated until 2014. According to Samsung, plans are being ironed out for each individual supplier.

The publication also cited unnamed observers as saying that Apple is expected to release the next version of the iPhone near the middle of 2013. From the report:

Apple is expected to introduce its next-generation iPad and iPhone series around the middle of 2013, which will boost demand for ICs in particular communications related chips during the latter half of the first quarter, according to the observers.

Similar rumors surfaced last week, when a report suggested that Apple will begin a trial production run of the iPhone 5S this December. That report also stated that the iPhone 5S, a new iPad, and the long-rumored Apple HDTV will all be released in the first half of 2013.

The DigiTimes reprot shows that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) are expecting component orders from Apple to climb high in March or April, suggesting a May, June, or July launch for new Apple products.

These new claims could fuel rumors that Apple is shifting its yearly product refresh cycle to a 6-month refresh schedule. Though Apple has the brand recognition and, perhaps, the manufacturing capabilities to accomplish such a rapid product cycle, Apple fans who want to keep up to date with Apple’s products might find themselves paying double per year for their gadgets. The release of the newest iPad version came just six months after the release of the third-generation iPad in March 2012, upsetting many iPad owners who felt their device was becoming obsolete too quickly.

A report from Digitimes says that Foxconn is in the planning stages to bring manufacturing plants to the US. The report mentions that Los Angeles and Detroit are prime candidates for these new plants. Unfortunately, the plants wouldn’t bring much in the way of new jobs to American workers though. It’s said that Foxconn would focus on LCD TV production which is highly automated.

Interestingly enough, Foxconn is also starting up a training program for US-based engineers. Foxconn chairman Terry Gou said at a recent public event that his company would invite engineers to Taiwan and China for hands-on training in product design. The engineers would also get a chance to learn the Chinese language while they’re at it.

Gou also said that his company is currently in talks with the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in regards to the program. It sounds like one heck of an internship, and I’m sure many students at MIT would jump at the chance to learn more about design and a new language.

Of course, all of this depends on approval from the US government. Distrust of China is at an all-time high in Congress with lawmakers investigating Chinese companies’ ties to the Chinese government. Foxconn isn’t included in the investigation just yet, but it will have to overcome some initial scrutiny if it intends to move to the US.

The company told CNET in an email statement that it had performed an internal investigation and found some workers at its Yantai facility in Shandong Province were ages 14 to 16. From the CNET report:

“This is not only a violation of China’s labor law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions,” the company said in an e-mailed statement to CNET. “We are also carrying out a full investigation, in cooperation with the respective educational institutions, to determine how this happened and the actions that must be taken by our company to ensure that it can never happen again.”

This admission was a reaction to a China Labor Watch report released this week showing that it had found “a small number of student interns employed in the summer were between 14 ro 16 years old.” China Labor Watch claims that though the interns were sent by schools, Foxconn did not check their IDs.

Foxconn’s admission highlights the fact that the company is not actively seeking to recruit children to work in its factories. The economic conditions in China’s rural areas are such that underage workers are actively seeking employment before they are allowed to work. Schools, such as the ones mentioned, often smuggle in underage workers using false identification. The real issue is whether Foxconn is being diligent enough in turning away underage workers.

As the manufacturer behind the largest company in history, Foxconn is under increased scrutiny from labor organizations. In the past the company has dealt with a multitude of suicides at its facilities. More recently, riots and strikes by production workers have lead the headlines for Foxconn.

(via CNET)

This almost certainly means customers who were some of the first to preorder the phone will get iPhone 5s with LCD panels from either Japan Display or LG Display, the other two manufacturers producing the panels. It is clear that Apple felt those two manufacturers were able to provide enough screens for the massive product launch that Apple no doubt has planned.

What is unclear is whether this delay might have impacted the number of iPhone 5s Apple has been able to manufacture so far. It’s possible that the sell-out of the first shipment of iPhone 5s this morning might have been helped along by lower initial shipment numbers. With Sharp finally caught up, though, it won’t be long now before millions of iPhone 5s find their way into the hands of customers.

Foxconn, one of the major manufacturers of Apple products, has invested heavily in Sharp.

One month ago China Labor Watch, a watchdog organization that defends the rights of Chinese workers, issued a report on one Samsung manufacturing facility in Huizhou, China. It reported claims of children under the age of 16 working at the facility. Samsung responded quickly to the report and followed up with a factory inspection and some changes to labor practices.

This week, China Labor Watch has issued another report, this one concerning eight different Samsung factories, six of which are owned and operated by Samsung directly. The report details claims that workers in the factories are forced to work overtime, stand for 11 to 12 hours, and are working in unsafe conditions. There are also new claims of underage workers.

A Samsung spokesperson acknowledged these claims, though he only addressed the overtime issue, saying that it is related to new product assembly lines and tight manufacturing deadlines. He stated that Samsung will be re-evaluating its working hour practices. Samsung will be conducting on-site inspections of its factories and suppliers, and said it would terminate the contract of any supplier found to have labor violations.

China Labor Watch, a New York-based organization that defends the human rights of Chinese workers, this week published an investigative report on an HEG Electronics factory located in Huizhou, China. HEG is a Samsung supplier for components found in Samsung products. The report claims that several children were found working at the HEG factory.

Members of China Labor Watch worked jobs at the HEG factory during June and July of this year. Their report claims that seven different children under the age of 16 were found working in the department where the members were stationed. China Labor Watch estimates that 50 to 100 children could be working at the factory, out of 2,000 total workers. It also claims that these children are making only 70% of the wages normal employees at the factory receive.

According to the China Labor Watch report, younger student workers make up a majority of the employees at the factory during summer and winter periods. It is claimed that underage workers are smuggled in using false identification on the pretext of being student workers. China Labor Watch claims that underage workers, when discovered, were moved to rented dormitories away from the factory, but not fired.

To Samsung’s credit, the company has immediately responded to the accusations. It released a statement today promising to send a team of inspectors to the factory by August 9. The full statement from The Verge:

“Samsung Electronics has conducted two separate on-site inspections on HEG’s working conditions this year but found no irregularities on those occasions.

A team of inspectors consisting of Samsung personnel from Korea headquarters will be dispatched to Huizhou, China on August 9, and it will immediately launch an investigation and take appropriate measures to correct any problems that may surface.

Samsung Electronics is a company held to the highest standards of working conditions and we try to maintain that at our facilities and the facilities of partner companies around the world.”

If these accusations are true, Samsung will need to review much of its manufacturing operations in China for human rights abuses. The China Labor Watch report states that companies such as Samsung require “social responsibility audits” for their suppliers, but that such processes are susceptible to bribery and other types of corruption. The report singles out Samsung’s auditing company, Intertek, as “not trustworthy.”

In The New York Times report, Charles Duhigg and David Barboza wrote: “the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems.”

Is Apple responsible for the poor working conditions in Foxconn’s Chinese factories? Why or why not?

Ever since this article was published, both Apple and Foxconn have gained extensive criticism. Many groups, including the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), are speaking out against Apple claiming it should take full responsibility.

“Apple is certainly to blame because Apple is in control of the situation,” Ross Eisenbrey, the Vice President of the Economic Policy Institute, said to WebProNews.

The EPI, along with Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), the Workers Rights Consortium, and others, recently held a forum to raise awareness of these issues. Their research, as Eisenbrey explained to us, found that Foxconn’s Chinese factory employees work 60-70 hours per week, are exposed to dangerous chemicals, experience explosions from uncontrolled aluminum dust, and are under a military-style of management.

In addition, a large part of the workforce consists of 16-18-year old individuals that serve as “interns” from local vocational schools. Eisenbrey, however, told us that these individuals do not even work in the areas in which they are hoping to obtain training in.

He pointed out that many of these conditions break Apple’s Code of Conduct as well as Chinese laws.

“Apple has the capacity, because it makes such a big profit, to offer a better margin to Foxconn,” said Eisenbrey.

“They have the power to do that – they’ve just chosen not to do that,” he added.

According to him, the problems date back to 2005. At that time, Apple made a commitment to enforce improvements. But, Eisenbrey told us that he doesn’t believe Apple’s commitment was strong enough since the issues remain several years later.

The debate around Apple its Foxconn factories came even further into the spotlight after Rob Schmitz, Marketplace’s China correspondent in Shanghai, had the opportunity to visit the Foxconn Longhua facility:

Interestingly, Foxconn’s plants in Brazil also produce Apple products, but the working conditions are very different from China’s. Under Brazilian law, workers are required to have union representation. As a result, workers have better wages, transportation, and benefits.

Since Brazil shows that Foxconn and Apple can abide by such mandates, Eisenbrey thinks the companies are more than capable of facilitating similar practices in China.

Last month, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) conducted an investigation of Foxconn’s plants in China in response to the widespread scrutiny of both Apple and Foxconn. Since the audit found multiple violations, the companies are required by the FLA’s remediation policy to make changes.

The improvements involve reducing worker overtime, giving workers a stronger voice, and reforming the “internship” program. While these provisions would help the current circumstances, Eisenbrey and others see a problem in the fact that the changes won’t begin until June of 2013.

“We get a report that basically puts off changes for more than a year and doesn’t really promise anything more than Apple and Foxconn promised in 2006,” he said.

“They made commitments 6 years ago, and here we are again 6 years later and nothing has changed,” he continued.

Although Eisenbrey is skeptical given the comapanies’ past actions, he told us that he hopes Apple will step up, take responsibility, and do what’s right.

“People have believed Apple’s commitment in the past, and if they go on making commitments and breaking them, sooner or later, that’s gonna penetrate the buying public,” he said.

“Apple is a very efficient, powerful organization that, when it wants to get something done, can get it done,” he said. “They haven’t gotten this done.”

Could all this scrutiny result in Apple becoming a less valuable company? What do you think?

Excepting the monthly utility bill you’ll need in order to use the iPhone as a phone, that’s how much it costs you, a consumer. Not so terrible, really. But the total human cost of that slick device is shockingly steep and adds a much graver, even unconscionable tax to the device. For instance, there’s the human toll required to mine coltan, or columbite–tantalite, which is a dull black metallic ore that is capable of holding a high electrical charge. If you have any kind of electronic device – and if you live in the developed world then you almost certainly do – it’s got some coltan in it. More, every single iPhone to roll off the production line contains coltan.

What’s more, the mining and value of coltan has perpetuated a bloody, extended conflict in the Congo. Check out what two reporters from Vice found when they took a trip to investigate the origins of the contentious ore.

Do you see how this is going to add up yet?

The folks over at MBAonline.com put together a jarring inforgraphic that explores the further human cost of putting an iPhone together and delivering it into your back pocket or purse. As if to lessen the poison you’re about to eyedrop into your eyes, it is made with impressive 8-bit mastery, so there is that. But still. Good luck this weekend not envisioning a splattering of blood all over your iPhone this weekend.

Created by MBAonline.com

[Via Geeks are Sexy.]