Apple's Attempts to Automate Product Assembly Have Met With Limited Success

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The Information today published a detailed look at the difficulties Apple has faced trying to assemble its products with robots rather than humans.


The report claims that, beginning in 2012, Apple assembled a team of robotics and automation specialists at a secret lab in Sunnyvale, California to search for ways to reduce the number of workers on its production lines. However, the team is said to have quickly encountered challenges designing some of these automated systems:

Building a robot that can fasten screws is among the hardest challenges in the industry. A robot must pick up the screw at a specific angle and align it with a hole using multiple industrial cameras. Apple uses screws so tiny that robots had no way to measure the force used to drill them in. By contrast, human workers can feel the resistance from their hand and can tell when something is off.

As for putting glue onto display panels, Apple’s specifications are so tight that glue must often be placed within a millimeter of its desired spot inside a product. One former team member said well-trained Chinese workers were more adept at applying glue than their robot counterparts.

While many of the automated systems were abandoned or not implemented, the team apparently did have some success replacing workers with robots for simpler tasks such as testing of products like the Apple TV, Apple Watch, and iPad.

The report provides many more examples of Apple's attempts at ramping up automation, only to experience challenges. In 2014, for instance, Apple attempted to automate assembly of its since-discontinued 12-inch MacBook, but the production line apparently turned out to be more trouble than it was worth due to various issues:

In early trials, the conveyor systems moved erratically, slowing down the movement of parts. A robot that installed the keyboard using 88 small screws kept malfunctioning, requiring humans to come in afterward and rework most of the process. Containers used for moving parts kept piling up on conveyors, creating traffic jams.

These issues apparently led Apple to delay the launch of the 12-inch MacBook by around six months. The notebook was released in April 2015.

The report concludes that, while Apple has not had much success using robots to assemble its products as a whole, automation can be effective for specific parts. A few years ago, Apple also introduced a robot named Daisy that can take apart up to 200 iPhone devices per hour, removing and sorting components for recycling purposes.
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Lenovo releases smaller, better-equipped Chromebook 3 for only $229

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Apple Suppliers Reportedly Developing OLED Displays With Low-Power LTPO Technology for 2021 iPhones

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Apple's supply chain partners are already developing OLED displays using LTPO backplane technology for 2021 iPhones, according to DigiTimes.


A paywalled preview of the report reads as follows:

iPhone OLED screens may adopt LTPO backplanes in 2021, say sources
Apple has yet to introduce its 5G iPhones for 2020, but its supply chain is already developing OLED screens using LTPO backplane technology for next year's premium iPhone models, according industry sources.

LTPO technology would result in a more power efficient backplane, which is responsible for turning individual pixels on and off on the display. This could pave the way for longer battery life and/or new features like ProMotion or an always-on display.

While leakers Max Weinbach and Jon Prosser have claimed that ProMotion is a possibility on some 2020 iPhones, display analyst Ross Young believes that LTPO is essential if Apple plans to support ProMotion on the iPhone, as it would allow for a variable refresh as low as 1Hz when the device is inactive in order to optimize battery life.

The full report should be released by tomorrow, so we will update our coverage at that time if there are additional details.

Tag: 2021 iPhones

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Deals: Apple Watch Series 3 Available for $179 on Amazon

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Amazon has the 38mm Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS) for $179.00 today, down from $199.00. This device is available in the Silver Aluminum Case option with a White Sport Band, as well as the Space Gray Aluminum Case with a Black Sport Band.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

There is also a discount on the 42mm Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS), available for $209.00, down from $229.00. Despite being a few years old, Apple keeps the Apple Watch Series 3 as its entry-level option into the Apple Watch family, and it was originally priced starting at $329.00.

$20 OFF

Apple Watch Series 3 for $179.00

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals

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Apple CEO Tim Cook on George Floyd's Death: We Must Aim Far Higher Than a 'Normal' Future

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Apple CEO Tim Cook today shared an open letter addressing the death of George Floyd while in police custody last month, referring to the "senseless killing" as "shocking and tragic proof that we must aim far higher than a 'normal' future."


The letter is similar to a memo that Cook shared with Apple employees last week, but it adds a few actions that Apple remains committed to, including pushing progress forward on inclusion and diversity, bringing critical resources and technology to underserved school systems, and fighting environmental injustices like climate change, which Apple says disproportionally affects Black communities and other communities of color.

Apple is also donating to organizations that challenge racial injustice and mass incarceration, including the Equal Justice Initiative.

The open letter is featured on the homepage of Apple's website:

Speaking up on racism

Right now, there is a pain deeply etched in the soul of our nation and in the hearts of millions. To stand together, we must stand up for one another, and recognize the fear, hurt, and outrage rightly provoked by the senseless killing of George Floyd and a much longer history of racism.

That painful past is still present today — not only in the form of violence, but in the everyday experience of deeply rooted discrimination. We see it in our criminal justice system, in the disproportionate toll of disease on Black and Brown communities, in the inequalities in neighborhood services and the educations our children receive.

While our laws have changed, the reality is that their protections are still not universally applied. We've seen progress since the America I grew up in, but it is similarly true that communities of color continue to endure discrimination and trauma.

I have heard from so many that you feel afraid — afraid in your communities, afraid in your daily lives, and, most cruelly of all, afraid in your own skin. We can have no society worth celebrating unless we can guarantee freedom from fear for every person who gives this country their love, labor, and life.

At Apple, our mission has been and always will be to create technology that empowers people to change the world for the better. We've always drawn strength from diversity, welcomed people from every walk of life to our stores around the world, and strived to build an Apple that is inclusive of everyone.

But we must do more. We commit to continuing our work to bring critical resources and technology to underserved school systems. We commit to continuing to fight the forces of environmental injustice — like climate change — which disproportionately harm Black communities and other communities of color. We commit to looking inward and pushing progress forward on inclusion and diversity, so that every great idea can be heard. And we’re donating to organizations including the Equal Justice Initiative, which challenge racial injustice and mass incarceration.

To create change, we have to reexamine our own views and actions in light of a pain that is deeply felt but too often ignored. Issues of human dignity will not abide standing on the sidelines. To the Black community — we see you. You matter and your lives matter.

This is a moment when many people may want nothing more than a return to normalcy, or to a status quo that is only comfortable if we avert our gaze from injustice. As difficult as it may be to admit, that desire is itself a sign of privilege. George Floyd's death is shocking and tragic proof that we must aim far higher than a "normal" future, and build one that lives up to the highest ideals of equality and justice.

In the words of Martin Luther King, "Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change."

With every breath we take, we must commit to being that change, and to creating a better, more just world for everyone.

A fundraiser has been set up on GoFundMe for George Floyd's six-year-old daughter Gianna Floyd and her mother Roxie Washington.

Tag: Tim Cook

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What I learned from reviewing every Apple Arcade game

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I reviewed 123 iPhone games over nine months, and lived to tell the tale. Here's what the experience taught me

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Google Search Starts Highlighting Results Directly on Webpages

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Google has added a new content highlighting feature to its search engine that aims to make it easier to find key information on webpages, reports SearchEngineLand (via The Verge).


The feature works with Google's Featured Snippets, which appear at the top of search results. Clicking a snippet takes the user to the source webpage, but now the browser automatically scrolls down the page to the text that appeared in the snippet and highlights it in yellow.

Google says the feature has been available with AMP pages since December 2018, but this is the first time Google has rolled it out for regular HTML content, too.

Web developers don't need to do anything to get content highlighting working on their sites, as it's all managed at Google's end and happens automatically, although our tests backed up The Verge's claim that, currently, it doesn't always work.

There is no markup needed by webmasters. This happens automatically, using Scroll To Text for HTML pages https://t.co/cE9O2cBgKu. See also more background here: https://t.co/vKFmR3HLK3

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 3, 2020

The search shown in the images at the top of our article worked on desktop in Chrome, but not in Safari or Firefox, for example. They didn't work in the mobile versions of these browsers for us at all.

As noted by SearchEngineLand, the feature could have an impact on the ad market, since visitors may be automatically scrolled down past website ads to the highlighted content. In some instances, sites may need to relocate their ads to align with the new Google feature.

Tag: Google

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