Apple in China

Patrick McGee's account of how Apple built its manufacturing empire in China is thorough and well-reported — maybe too thorough. It walks through the supply-chain buildout, the political tightrope, and the steady stream of compromises Apple made to keep the machine running. My one quarrel is with the framing: the book leans hard on the word "forced," as if Apple were a reluctant captive rather than a willing partner who got exactly what it wanted out of the arrangement. The compromises read less like coercion and more like the cost of doing business at that scale, knowingly paid. The detail that stuck with me had nothing to do with strategy: in Apple Stores, people would stand in line to buy iPhones for resellers in cities without stores, each clutching a bag of cash. That image - a gray market running on physical currency - told me more about Apple's reach in China than any other chapter. It was fine: worth your time if the subject grabs you, skippable if it doesn't.