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Recently, a piece of news pointing out that iPhones produced in India have low yields and excessive E. coli content has been commented on and forwarded by many news self-media, causing heated discussions. . .

"What? Even iPhones produced in India have excessive levels of E. coli?"

Domestic reports are saying that due to the low education quality and poor hygiene habits of Indians, iPhones produced in India not only have a low yield rate, but also have been found to contain excessive levels of E. coli in European inspections. As a result, Apple is facing losses and has decided to transfer production capacity back to China. . .

U1S1, this kind of speech with a high content of "shit" can easily attract everyone's attention at the first time, but when I take a quick look, I find that the sources of many news are not official and mainstream media.

This shouldn’t be the case! For such a big event, Apple and mainstream media should have known about it earlier, so Tony conducted an in-depth investigation.

But... Using English keywords to search on the Internet, we can only find a report from a foreign media named "GIZCHINA" dated July 24, 24.

Apple and other mainstream foreign media, which are more credible, have no news about E. coli on iPhones in India. . .

Then Tony was puzzled. Is it true or false that the E. coli content in Indian iPhones exceeds the standard?

Hey! Actually, this is not the first time that this matter has caused heated discussion.

As early as September 2004, there was a wave of accusations of E. coli and a boycott of Indian iPhones in China.

But within two days of this incident happening in 2023, it was confirmed as false by You Ju, a public welfare media project that focuses on fact-checking international news in the Chinese world. But maybe no one saw it. . .

In order to avoid being bound by one person's opinion, Tony found a report on the Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) in April 2004.

After reading this, I believe everyone should have a clear idea of ​​what happened last year. . .

However, the same news came out again this year.Is it true that the E. coli content in iPhones produced in India exceeds the standard?

Tony specifically asked a former colleague who worked in hardware development. He took his former employer as an example and gave me a comprehensive analysis of the various procedures in the production workshop of an electronics factory.

First of all, in the manufacturing and production process of electronic products, in order to ensure product quality and yield rate, the requirements for indoor air environment and quality are extremely strict, soThe more advanced the manufacturing company is, the stricter the control over the factory air environment and product quality will be. . .

Foxconn, a global OEM leader that will rank 32nd in the Fortune 500 in 2024, is well-known for its strict quality control. "Industrial Aircraft Carrier", so logically speaking, Foxconn’s processes will only be stricter than those of his old employer.

For any mature OEM factory, the first and most important thing to do when investing in a factory is to find a company that specializes in designing electronic dust-free workshops, because it directly affects product quality and production environment.

This type of workshop has a grading standard called cleanliness, which is generally above level 10,000. Simply put, this type of workshop can screen out most particles larger than 0.5 microns through the factory's carefully designed air ducts and air purification systems.

E. coli is generally 0.5 microns wide and 1 to 3 microns long, so even if it exists, it is one of the particles that is screened out by most people.

In addition, everyone entering the workshop must wear an anti-static three-piece suit, including a hat, clothes and shoes. Although engineers do not need to wear masks all the time, factory workers who directly contact the products generally have to wear masks all the time.

Of course, the factory workshop is not fully automated at present, but workers rarely have the opportunity to directly touch the various parts of the product with their hands. When designing the process, the factory tries its best to avoid this problem, not only to prevent static electricity, but also for cleanliness.

As for whether the process of producing electronic products in factories can be clean, we can simply divide it into two parts: production and assembly.

The production is actually mainly the SMT patch process. Simply put, it means to paste various chips, connectors, capacitors, resistors on the green, blue or black board inside the shell of electronic products. . .

This process is now fully automated and will go through a reflow soldering boiler that can reach a maximum temperature of 240 degrees. However, E. coli is not resistant to high temperatures and can be killed in three minutes at 75 degrees. There is no need to use 240 degrees. They will all die at 150 degrees in the constant temperature zone.

After completing the SMT process, the board with chips and other components is called PCBA in the industry. The factory requires that it must be placed on an anti-static and dust-proof black tray whenever it is picked up.

After these PCBAs are sorted by the panel separator, the production line workers will wear gloves, load them with pallets, stack them on carts, and pull them to the assembly line.

Other components such as screens, batteries, gold fingers (FPC), LTE communication modules and other materials are also packaged by suppliers in anti-static shielding bags, then packed in batches and sent directly to the factory warehouse until they are taken out and sorted during assembly.

Whether it is trial production or mass production, the factory will bring a large bag of disposable gloves and finger cots during assembly. Both engineers and workers must wear them, so workers will not come into direct contact with components while wearing gloves and finger cots. . .

In addition, workers will not have to go to the toilet during assembly. On the one hand, factory rules and regulations require workers to go to the toilet in advance before assembly; on the other hand, toilets are designed to be located at the edge of each floor, such as near the entrance and exit, which are too far away from the factory production line.

In addition, the factory also uses partitions to separate different workshops, which shows the strict supervision of efficiency and hygiene in the assembly process.

Not only that, these different workshop lines will be supervised by team leaders, who will not only manage the production process, but also supervise the cleanliness and hygiene of the team members and the lines. There will be random inspections from higher-ups every now and then. Once hygiene problems are found on the factory side, the consequences may be recorded and fined, or even dismissed.

When everyone understands how strict the factory is in terms of environmental quality and material cleanliness, there should be no doubt about whether the factory's products will contain bacteria.

As for the less than 50% yield rate mentioned in the news... You may not know that the low yield rate caused by production problems is borne by the foundry, and Apple will not pay a penny for it.

When a brand outsources its products to a foundry, it simply means that all production-related work is handed over to the foundry. The brand and the foundry will negotiate a total quotation based on the estimated shipment volume, sales plan, and input costs.

What the foundry earns is the difference between the production cost and the total quotation. As for how much it can earn, it depends on the ability of the foundry, so the factory will try every means to improve the yield rate through various processes.

For example, the factory will conduct multiple small-batch trial productions before mass production to verify materials from different manufacturers and various bugs. It will also send engineers from the R&D headquarters to travel and follow the production line to monitor and solve various problems in the factory in real time. . .

Moreover, during trial production and assembly, engineers from all fields must go to the production line to supervise the workers in assembly so that problems can be solved as soon as possible. The foundry is afraid that delays in processing will lead to lower yields and lower profits.

Afterwards, these trial production machines will undergo various functional tests, and defective products will be handed over to engineers for problem location and bug fixing. When all known problems in the trial production are solved or avoided, and the yield rate is stable and meets the standard (at least 95%), the mass production stage will begin.

Therefore, if the yield rate of the production line is less than 50% due to hygiene problems, the project will not enter mass production. Moreover, this is the production red line. From the bottom to the top, no matter whether it is the employees or the person in charge, they will suffer the consequences. . .

According to his project experience, the mass production yield rate of top OEM foundries is generally around 98%. If it is lower than 90%, they will be held accountable. If the engineers on the production line cannot solve the bug in a short time, they would rather stop the line than continue production in order to stop the loss.

No wonder he told me that it is hard to imagine that for a mature foundry like Foxconn that has been producing iPhones for Apple for many years, the yield rate is less than 50%.

Wow, after he sorted out this matter, Tony also thought that he should put a big “?” on key words such as India producing iPhones with E. coli, and Apple making losses.

As for the stereotype of Indians on the Internet, "wiping shit with the left hand and eating with the right hand", it's not so much because they are dirty, but because 95% of the people are poor. The toilets of rich Indians are very modern. They flush directly with water pipes, have paper towels, and even disinfectant...

If we look at it from a functional perspective, isn’t it a bit like a smart toilet with flushing function?

I can only say that in this age of information explosion, it is becoming increasingly difficult to judge the truth or falsehood of things.

Written by: Yun Sheng

edit: Noodles & Milo

Art: Huan Yan

Image, source：
China Times News Network,

There is evidence.

CNBC，

Gizchina，

Baidu Pictures