The state [Karnataka] passed an amendment to its application of the factories act, which now allows for 12-hour shifts [up from 9], and the easing of rules for night-time work for women. The legislation increases the number of allowable overtime hours to 145 over a three-month period, up from 75, and caps maximum working hours at 48 per week [this is toothless].
Apple and its manufacturing partner Foxconn were involved in lobbying for a significant liberalisation of labour laws...There are “a lot of inputs" from industry lobby groups and foreign companies, including Foxconn and Apple, in the decision to amend Karnataka’s labour law.
I always found the "made in china = bad" argument funny. Like iPhones are overpriced shits much of the time, but the physical quality is alright like 95% of the time. It's the companies which set the standards and China follows whatever are given. There's also the cope of "ummm it's designed in california" lmao. It's still assembled thousands of miles away, man. They make iPhones with higher standards because that's what Apple wants, and they make cheap junk that falls apart in 2 weeks because that's what Amazon and Walmart wants
Yeah it's pretty much a you get what you pay for deal with multinationals doing business in China. And with how fucked neoliberal global capitalism is, you don't need to pay that much to get high quality
And they rip off shit, improve it (to somewhere in between) and sell it to Chinese consumers cause it's what Chinese companies want (and now those companies have improved their designs just about up to par). Apple will have them make the good shit and ship it over to you, they can't compete with that so they're just going to sell their version of the good shit to themselves ofc, has nothing to do with competence, as you say.