
Apple in China
The Capture of the World's Greatest Company
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Pre-order for $22.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fred Sanders
-
By:
-
Patrick McGee
About this listen
For fans 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.
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 made a strategic move to offshore its operations. By 2003 it was being lured to China by the promise of affordable labor that allowed the company to churn out premium products at an unprecedented scale. For years, the Silicon Valley giant sent thousands of America’s top engineers to China and spent tens of billions of dollars on equipment, spurring the transformation of a cheap labor country into the world’s most sophisticated electronics manufacturing powerhouse. Fast forward to today: 90% of iPhone assembly happens in China. Despite capturing less than 20% of the global smartphone market, Apple’s operations allow it to rake in 80% of the sector’s profits.
Yet Beijing has tightened its grip, incentivizing Apple to work with more Chinese companies in its production, exerting control over what Chinese users can do on the iPhone, and requiring customer data for its citizens to be stored in state-backed data centers. The visionary company that Steve Jobs dreamed of finds itself in a tight spot. No other nation can match China’s quality, volumes, and flexibility as a producer of nearly half a billion iGadgets yearly, and Apple isn’t keen to abandon a market where it generates more profit than even China’s own tech giants.
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.
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Nazi Mind
- Twelve Warnings from History
- By: Laurence Rees
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How could the SS have committed the crimes they did? How were the killers who shot Jews at close quarters able to perpetrate this horror? Why did commandants of concentration and death camps willingly—often enthusiastically—oversee mass murder? How could ordinary Germans have tolerated the removal of the Jews? In The Nazi Mind, bestselling historian Laurence Rees seeks answers to some of the most perplexing questions surrounding the Second World War and the Holocaust.
By: Laurence Rees
-
How Countries Go Broke
- The Big Cycle
- By: Ray Dalio
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades, politicians, policymakers, and investors have debated these questions, but the Big Debt Cycle that helps answer them is not talked about or well understood. With the US debt issue coming to a head, Dalio’s How Countries Go Broke provides the first-ever detailed analysis of the Big Debt Cycle, explaining its implications and offering a surprisingly straightforward solution to getting debt problems like the ones the US faces under control.
By: Ray Dalio
-
Lawless
- How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes
- By: Leah Litman
- Narrated by: Leah Litman
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the gravitas of Joan Biskupic and the irreverence of Elie Mystal, Leah Litman brings her signature wit to the question of what’s gone wrong at One First Street. In Lawless, she argues that the Supreme Court is no longer practicing law; it’s running on vibes. By “vibes,” Litman means legal-ish claims that repackage the politics of conservative grievance and dress them up in robes. Major decisions adopt the language and posture of the law, while in fact displaying a commitment to protecting a single minority: the religious conservatives and Republican officials.
By: Leah Litman
-
On Xi Jinping
- How Xi's Marxist Nationalism Is Shaping China and the World
- By: Kevin Rudd
- Narrated by: Kevin Rudd
- Length: 21 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In On Xi Jinping, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd provides an authoritative account of the ideological worldview driving Chinese behaviour both domestically and on the world stage—that of President Xi Jinping, who now holds near-total control over the Chinese Communist Party and is now, in effect, president-for-life. Rudd argues that Xi’s worldview differs significantly from those of the leaders who preceded him, and that this ideological shift is reflected in the real world of Chinese policy and behaviour.
-
-
Informed research with deep insights, but very hard to follow.
- By Josh Carter on 02-18-25
By: Kevin Rudd
-
The Thinking Machine
- Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip
- By: Stephen Witt
- Narrated by: Stephen Witt
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June of 2024, thirty-one years after its founding in a Denny’s restaurant, Nvidia became the most valuable corporation on Earth. The Thinking Machine is the astonishing story of how a designer of video game equipment conquered the market for AI hardware, and in the process re-invented the computer. Essential to Nvidia’s meteoric success is its visionary CEO Jensen Huang, who more than a decade ago, on the basis of a few promising scientific results, bet his entire company on AI.
-
-
A great story of legendary leadership by a visionary
- By Amazon Customer on 04-16-25
By: Stephen Witt
-
Zbig
- The Life and Times of Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet
- By: Edward Luce
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Zbigniew Brzezinski was one of the key figures who helped bring about the demise of the Soviet Union. As National Security Advisor to Jimmy Carter, and counsel to presidents from John F. Kennedy onwards, Brzezinski converted his role as a leading American Sovietologist onto the global stage. George Kennan and Henry Kissinger are often held up as America’s most influential Cold War strategists but Brzezinski’s impact on helping bring about the end of the USSR was greater.
By: Edward Luce
-
The Nazi Mind
- Twelve Warnings from History
- By: Laurence Rees
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How could the SS have committed the crimes they did? How were the killers who shot Jews at close quarters able to perpetrate this horror? Why did commandants of concentration and death camps willingly—often enthusiastically—oversee mass murder? How could ordinary Germans have tolerated the removal of the Jews? In The Nazi Mind, bestselling historian Laurence Rees seeks answers to some of the most perplexing questions surrounding the Second World War and the Holocaust.
By: Laurence Rees
-
How Countries Go Broke
- The Big Cycle
- By: Ray Dalio
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades, politicians, policymakers, and investors have debated these questions, but the Big Debt Cycle that helps answer them is not talked about or well understood. With the US debt issue coming to a head, Dalio’s How Countries Go Broke provides the first-ever detailed analysis of the Big Debt Cycle, explaining its implications and offering a surprisingly straightforward solution to getting debt problems like the ones the US faces under control.
By: Ray Dalio
-
Lawless
- How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes
- By: Leah Litman
- Narrated by: Leah Litman
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the gravitas of Joan Biskupic and the irreverence of Elie Mystal, Leah Litman brings her signature wit to the question of what’s gone wrong at One First Street. In Lawless, she argues that the Supreme Court is no longer practicing law; it’s running on vibes. By “vibes,” Litman means legal-ish claims that repackage the politics of conservative grievance and dress them up in robes. Major decisions adopt the language and posture of the law, while in fact displaying a commitment to protecting a single minority: the religious conservatives and Republican officials.
By: Leah Litman
-
On Xi Jinping
- How Xi's Marxist Nationalism Is Shaping China and the World
- By: Kevin Rudd
- Narrated by: Kevin Rudd
- Length: 21 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In On Xi Jinping, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd provides an authoritative account of the ideological worldview driving Chinese behaviour both domestically and on the world stage—that of President Xi Jinping, who now holds near-total control over the Chinese Communist Party and is now, in effect, president-for-life. Rudd argues that Xi’s worldview differs significantly from those of the leaders who preceded him, and that this ideological shift is reflected in the real world of Chinese policy and behaviour.
-
-
Informed research with deep insights, but very hard to follow.
- By Josh Carter on 02-18-25
By: Kevin Rudd
-
The Thinking Machine
- Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip
- By: Stephen Witt
- Narrated by: Stephen Witt
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June of 2024, thirty-one years after its founding in a Denny’s restaurant, Nvidia became the most valuable corporation on Earth. The Thinking Machine is the astonishing story of how a designer of video game equipment conquered the market for AI hardware, and in the process re-invented the computer. Essential to Nvidia’s meteoric success is its visionary CEO Jensen Huang, who more than a decade ago, on the basis of a few promising scientific results, bet his entire company on AI.
-
-
A great story of legendary leadership by a visionary
- By Amazon Customer on 04-16-25
By: Stephen Witt
-
Zbig
- The Life and Times of Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet
- By: Edward Luce
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Zbigniew Brzezinski was one of the key figures who helped bring about the demise of the Soviet Union. As National Security Advisor to Jimmy Carter, and counsel to presidents from John F. Kennedy onwards, Brzezinski converted his role as a leading American Sovietologist onto the global stage. George Kennan and Henry Kissinger are often held up as America’s most influential Cold War strategists but Brzezinski’s impact on helping bring about the end of the USSR was greater.
By: Edward Luce
-
Why Nothing Works
- Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back
- By: Marc J. Dunkelman
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America was once a country that did big things—we built the world’s greatest rail network, a vast electrical grid, interstate highways, abundant housing, the Social Security system, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and more. But today, even while facing a host of pressing challenges—a housing shortage, a climate crisis, a dilapidated infrastructure—we feel stuck, unable to move the needle. Why?
-
-
Sort of boring
- By Paul on 03-03-25
-
The Big Guy
- How a President and His Son Sold Out America
- By: Miranda Devine
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s rare that a campaign season has anything like an IRS whistleblower and a California US attorney saying they were blocked from pursuing charges, foreign wire transfers of millions of dollars going to several members of politician’s family, suspicious slap-on-the-wrist plea deals, mounds of incrimination texts, a previously unacknowledged child with a stripper, and multiple congressional investigations. It’s unprecedented to have them all tied to one politician like Joe Biden.
-
-
mainstream truth better late than never
- By Stephen F. Tate on 09-25-24
By: Miranda Devine
-
The Next Day
- Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward
- By: Melinda French Gates
- Narrated by: Melinda French Gates
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a rare window into some of her life’s pivotal moments, Melinda French Gates draws from previously untold stories to offer a new perspective on encountering transitions. Melinda will reflect on some of the most significant transitions in her own life, including becoming a parent, the death of a dear friend, and her departure from the Gates Foundation. The stories she tells illuminate universal lessons about loosening the bonds of perfectionism, helping friends navigate times of crisis, embracing uncertainty, and more.
-
-
So much wisdom
- By Michelle Hicks on 04-16-25
-
Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order
- Why Nations Succeed or Fail
- By: Ray Dalio
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Ray Dalio
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the number-one New York Times best seller Principles, who has spent half a century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes - and to offer practical advice on how to navigate them well.
-
-
Ray Dalio, Chinas New Minister of Propoganda
- By Dudley on 01-04-22
By: Ray Dalio
-
Abundance
- By: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all.
-
-
Advice to the Democratic Party from Klein & Thompson
- By Betsy Fowler on 03-31-25
By: Ezra Klein, and others
-
Government Gangsters
- The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy
- By: Kash Pramod Patel
- Narrated by: Richard Cefalos
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sinister cabal of corrupt law enforcement personnel, intelligence agents, and military officials at the highest levels of government plotted to overthrow a president. Even after they failed, they continue to secretly pull the levers of power without any accountability to the American people. This isn’t the synopsis of a fictional spy thriller. This is what is actually happening in the United States government.
-
-
A Book Whose Time Has Come
- By 20eagle16 on 09-30-23