Apple in China

The Capture of the World's Greatest Company

By: Patrick McGee

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

For listeners 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.

After struggling to build its products on three continents, Apple was lured by China’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of cheap labor. Soon it was sending thousands of engineers across the Pacific, training millions of workers, and spending hundreds of billions of dollars to create the world’s most sophisticated supply chain. These capabilities enabled Apple to build the 21st century’s most iconic products—in staggering volume and for enormous profit.

Without explicitly intending to, Apple built an advanced electronics industry within China, only to discover that its massive investments in technology upgrades had inadvertently given Beijing a power that could be weaponized.

In Apple in China, journalist Patrick McGee draws on more than two hundred interviews with former executives and engineers, supplementing their stories with unreported meetings held by Steve Jobs, emails between top executives, and internal memos regarding threats from Chinese competition. The book highlights the unknown characters who were instrumental in Apple’s ascent and who tried to forge a different path, including the Mormon missionary who established the Apple Store in China; the “Gang of Eight” executives tasked with placating Beijing; and an idealistic veteran whose hopes of improving the lives of factory workers were crushed by both Cupertino’s operational demands and Xi Jinping’s war on civil society.

Apple in China is the sometimes disturbing and always revelatory story of how an outspoken, proud company that once praised “rebels” and “troublemakers”—the company that encouraged us all to “Think Different”—devolved into passively cooperating with a belligerent regime that increasingly controls its fate.

©2025 Patrick McGee (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

Disturbing and Equally Important

I was a very early adopter to Apple products, all the way back to 1984. This book is clearly researched well, almost all of the Macintosh history rings true with my own understanding of its development. But had no idea that ALL of it went to China decades ago. We have trained them well, and almost all of us are complicit. And I’m typing this on an iPhone 14. I won’t upgrade to the AI version, there’s no reason for me to believe it won’t be loaded with CCP malware. And I’ll probably go to a Samsung phone next.

Excellent look into Apple

Well written with lots of insights. Enjoyed the whole thing and would recommend for anyone who is a fan of Apple, engineering, or manufacturing.

Riveting , reminds me of chip wars

Such an interesting listen I couldn't stop . Gonna listen again but very reminiscent of chip wars

A One-Note Diatribe Masquerading as Analysis

This book had the potential to explore one of the most complex and globally significant business relationships of our time. Instead, it delivers a relentlessly negative and ultimately unconvincing polemic that feels more like a long complaint than a balanced account.

The audiobook, in particular, is a slog. The narrator’s tone compounds the issue, rendering McGee’s already gloomy narrative into something almost unbearable. tiresome, monotonous, and dripping with contempt. It sounds less like a thoughtful critique and more like a personal grievance stretched over several hours.

Bias permeates the entire book. Apple, according to McGee, and especially Steve Jobs, can do no right. At one point, the author attempts to draw a direct line between Apple’s humble beginnings, assembling circuit boards in a garage, and its future reliance on “sweatshops.” It’s a baffling leap that ignores the reality of startup constraints and completely disregards context. Even more absurd is his comparison of Apple’s early days to IBM’s cutting-edge adoption of surface-mount technology. Should we really expect a fledgling company to rival an industry giant’s manufacturing innovations from day one?

Worse, the book is already outdated. Much of McGee’s central thesis revolves around Apple’s dependence on China, yet the company has been actively diversifying its supply chain for years, expanding into India, Vietnam, and elsewhere. We are ultimately left with a lopsided, stale picture.

Perhaps most troubling is McGee’s portrayal of China and its people. His framing too often reduces Chinese workers to automatons or victims, lacking any nuance, agency, or complexity. It’s a dehumanizing narrative that undermines the very real dignity and diversity of the people involved.

Apple in China could have been an important exploration of ethical complexity and global interdependence. Instead, it feels like a one-sided hit piece.