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White House Advisor Kudlow Says Apple Technology May Have Been 'Picked Off' by China (cnbc.com)
Fred Imbert, writing for CNBC: Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said Friday that Apple's technology may have been stolen by the Chinese. "I don't want to surmise too much here, but Apple technology may have been picked off by China and now China is becoming very competitive with Apple. You've got to have rule of law," Kudlow said in an interview with Bloomberg. "There are some indications from China that they're looking at that, but we don't know that yet. There's no enforcement; there's nothing concrete." Kudlow's comments came shortly after China's Commerce Ministry said Chinese and U.S. officials will meet next week to discuss trade. Both countries have been engaged in a trade spat for months that has sent ripples through global markets. John Gruber at DaringFireball comments: I think what he's saying here is that the Chinese stole Apple technology, copied it, and are now flooding the Chinese market with phones based on that stolen tech. I'm 99.8 percent certain that hasn't happened -- if there were Chinese phones built with stolen Apple technology we'd know it because we'd see it.
Apple's phones use screens by Samsung or LG, RAM by SK Hynix, flash storage by Toshiba, cellular modem by Qualcomm, battery charger by TI, WiFi/Bluetooth by Murata, cameras by Sony, etc. The only parts Apple makes are the A10 processor and the software. Everything else is stuff made by other companies which anyone can buy to use in their own products. In that sense, aside from the processor and software, cloning an iPhone is relatively simple and does not require any theft of technology.
Also, the median income in China is 18,371 Yuan, or roughly $2,674 per year. You're kidding yourself if you believe the Chinese would be buying $1000 iPhones if it weren't for the availability of cheap knockoffs.