Apple in China cover art

Apple in China

The Capture of the World's Greatest Company

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Apple in China

By: Patrick McGee
Narrated by: Fred Sanders
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About this listen

*** THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ***

‘Absolutely riveting’
Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads
‘Disturbing and enlightening’ Chris Miller, author of Chip War
‘Hugely important’ Rana Foroohar, author of Makers and Takers
‘A once-in-a-generation read’ Robert D. Kaplan, author of Waste Land

As Trump wages a tariff war with China, seeking to boost domestic electronics manufacturing, this book offers an unparalleled insight into why his strategy is embarrassingly naïve.

Apple isn’t just a brand; it’s the world’s most valuable company and creator of the 21st century’s defining product. The iPhone has revolutionized the way we live, work and connect. But Apple is now a victim of its own success, caught in the middle of a new Cold War between two superpowers.

On the brink of bankruptcy in 1996, Apple adopted an outsourcing strategy. By 2003 it was lured to China by the promise of affordable, ubiquitous labour. As the iPod and iPhone transformed Apple’s fortunes, their sophisticated production played a seminal role in financing, training, supervising and supplying Chinese manufacturers – skills Beijing is now weaponizing against the West.

Investigative journalist Patrick McGee draws on 200 interviews with former Apple executives and engineers to reveal how Cupertino’s choice to anchor its supply chain in China has increasingly made it vulnerable to the regime’s whims. Both an insider’s historical account and a cautionary tale, Apple in China is the first history of Apple to go beyond the biographies of its top executives and set the iPhone’s global domination within an increasingly fraught geopolitical context.
©2025 Patrick McGee (P)2025 Simon & Schuster UK
Economic History Economics History History & Culture Politics & Government China War Technology

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All stars
Most relevant  
This was such an engaging narrative and after reading Kevin Rudds recent thesis on Xi, its great to know the how in addition to the why.

Compelling read.

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The narration is either AI, or someone who has a very (very!) strange way of speaking. The intonation is weird. The pauses, the pitch, the tone. Very very unnatural sounding.

If I had to guess, I’d say it sounds like someone reading from an auto-cue, but only gets to see a few words at a time - so the full sentence construction isn’t know when the words are being spoken. The narrator then tries to fix it after they realise. But it just doesn’t work.

It is a real shame as the book’s contents are fascinating.

Terrible narration. Fantastic story.

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Very insightful as to Apples development.
The reading is rather robotic. Very irritating cadence and pauses. For the first hour or so t thought it actually wa s robot but a bit more natural later.
Very disappointed there was no mention of the SE/30.

It's good but....hard to listen to

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Most of this stuff you can find on Google. Book is also really biased. Writer belittles highly accomplished people.

No real insights

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