Browse through this interactive map of Apple's suppliers worldwide
Apple releases a list of all of its hardware supplier partners about once a year, as part of its Supplier Responsibility program. But the most recent list of suppliers included not only company names, but also addresses for each, and so a site called ChinaFile took all of those addresses and put them into an interactive Google map. With a few clicks and drags, you can now visually browse and see just where Apple is getting all of its various iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac parts from.
As you can see above, the distribution is one of the most interesting views. Obviously, the majority of Apple's suppliers are still based over in Asia, and when you zoom in, you can see that big number is split between Japan, China, Hong Kong and South Korea. But Apple also gets parts from the US and Europe, and even places as far away as Brazil.
Unfortunately, what this map doesn't show you is exactly what products and parts come from which suppliers. In a few places, you can guess, and in some places the information isn't very relevant (the address in Australia, for example, is just an address Down Under for a supplier that primarily works out of Asia). But nevertheless, this is an interesting look at just how global Apple's hardware business is.
