> Apple purchases iPhones from Foxconn

It sounds like you think that Foxconn develop a new iPhone then Apple turn up to buy them like a consumer!

Foxconn manufacture iPhones under a precise contract with Apple, who do the design and plan how they should be built. Apple don’t just purchase them off the shelf.

Yes but Apple also finances the factories and is deeply embedded. The system might just be the most advanced integrated supply chain on the planet.

I was in Shenzhen last week, there are stores where you can go up, pick some battery pack or other widget, buy 1k units, and then have them slap your logo on it. That’s one end of the spectrum. The other is you find a Contract Manufacturer and give them your exact specs. But then of course what tends to happen is that other factories conveniently get your specs after awhile.

Apple purchases labor from Foxconn