• In total, Apple conducted 229 audits, an improvement of 80 percent over its 2010 total. Over 100 of these audits were first-time audits.
• Apple expanded its audits to 28 suppliers in Malaysia and Singapore, where migrant workers are known to be in heavy use. The audits resulted in payout of $3.3 million to foreign contract workers as a result.
• Overall, Apple found a 74-percent compliance rate across eight categories when it came to labor and human rights practices in 2011, and 67-percent compliance when it came to suppliers having management systems in place to deal with the problem areas identified.
• In response to non-compliance across human rights and labor practices, Apple ended discriminatory medical screening at suppliers that had them in place, cut ties completely with at least one supplier in retaliation for repeat offenses regarding forced labor, and required compensation for underpaid wages, among other measures.
• Apple has partnered with the Fair Labor Association, an initiative spearheaded by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, to bring outside monitors into its suppliers’ factories to ensure standards are being met.
• At 14 suppliers in China, Apple conducted “specialized environmental audits,” which involved bringing in third-party environmental engineering experts. Apple intends to continue working with these facilities to correct issues uncovered during these audits, and plans to expand the program in 2012. This will no doubt continue to be an area of contention for Apple, since Chinese environmental groups continue to press the issue, and while they’ve reported being pleased is taking action, they aren’t yet satisfied enough has been done.

In addition to the highlights listed above, Apple also posted a list of its suppliers, containing 156 companies and representing 97 percent of “Apple’s procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing, and assembly of Apple’s products worldwide.” Apple has been criticized in the past for not divulging specific supplier relationships, so this is a major step towards greater transparency, and one that will likely be welcomed by environmental advocacy organizations.

Update: Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly sent out a company-wide communication about Apple’s supplier report. In it, he highlights some of the progress made by Apple in curbing underage labor practices, improving living conditions for supplier employees, and building an extensive training and education program. Cook also highlights Apple’s partnership with the FLA:

The FLA is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving conditions for workers around the world, and we are the first technology company they’ve approved for membership. The FLA’s auditing team will have direct access to our supply chain and they will report their findings independently on their website.

For the full text of Cook’s letter, check it out at its original posting location at Macgeneration.

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, Ltd. (TSMC)   is the company that will be supplying the A6 to Apple, according to the report. Reuters reported last month that the chipmaker was getting underway with trial production, but this latest report seems to suggest that trial production hadn’t yet begun in earnest until now.

The current A5 chip that powers the iPad 2, and is rumored to power the upcoming iPhone 5, is supplied by Samsung, but reports have long suggested that Apple was considering moving their chip production to TSMC, which is the world’s largest semiconductor foundry as measured by market share. Apple is also thought to be looking to move some of its business away from Samsung, since the two companies are involved in a complicated and volatile legal battle in various courts worldwide.

The A6, based on the ARM chip architecture, will use TSMC’s new 28-nanometer process, along with 3D stacking technologies. That will make for an extremely low-powered chip that’s also capable of blowing away the A4 and A5 in terms of processing ability, since those designs both use layered instead of 3D designs. The 3D stacking tech will allow layers to be integrated vertically and horizontally into one single circuit. Computerworld’s Jonny Evans suggested in July that such a design could make for a processor powerful enough, in theory, to replace Intel chips in future MacBook Airs, so they should extend the iPad’s capabilities considerably.

Taiwan Economic News says TSMC and Apple had discussed working together on past chips, but the chipmaker didn’t have the spare production capacity to take on the iPad maker as a customer. Owing to a downturn in the industry this year, the publication says TSMC now has room to fill Apple’s orders.

While it may be disappointing to some that it’s looking less likely we’ll see an iPad 3 this year, an iPad 2 and an iPad 3 released so close together isn’t a smart play for Apple anyway, as I noted earlier this year. The iPad continues to dominate the tablet space, and Apple is currently doing a good job of keeping its competition from even being able to sell their products. Even if we won’t get to see a new iPad product before 2012, the news that TSMC is getting underway with its chipmaking plans ahead of ramping up for full production in the first quarter of 2011 is still an exciting prospect for fans eager to see what’s coming next from Apple.

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The explosion occurred in building A5, which is where iPad 2 production reportedly takes place. The entire plant was opened only last year, and was thought to be created primarily to support increased demand for iPad production. Reporters were told to steer clear of the facility because a second explosion could possibly occur.

The extent of the damage to the facility and the cause have not yet been determined, but the explosion is said to have occurred during a worker shift change, which could account for the relatively low number of reported injuries given the apparent size of the blast.

Apple is already struggling to meet iPad demand, and I’ve spoken with a few people recently who’ve had their iPad 2 deliveries postponed because of “unexpected delays.” It’s unclear how this might further affect production constraints, but it certainly won’t help the situation.

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White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

I have a feeling that the manufacture may not have been precisely more challenging, but that the color of the finished product may not have been up to the standards of Steve Jobs when he held one in his hand. I don’t have any inside information on this, purely speculation, but I could imagine him saying, “Not good enough, send it back and redo it.”

While the press release says that the white iPhone will not be “available” till the second half of July, it may be that the white iPhone is not even going to be available for pre-order until then either. Currently, the black iPhone is listed as shipping by July 14, while the white iPhone is listed as “unavailable for pre-order or in-store pickup.” Depending on the demand, it may be well into August before anyone can have a white iPhone in their hands.

There is apparently no difference between the two models of iPhone other than the color. Both phones are available in either 16 or 32 GB sizes, and both will presumably have the same internal specs.

White is a more difficult color to do exactly right than black, just look at the plethora of different shades of white paint on display at the local hardware store. Unfortunately, customers who have been holding out for the white version are going to have to wait just a little while longer.

Are you waiting for white? Will this change your mind? Let us know in the comments!

Carbon fiber is an extremely strong, lightweight and very expensive composite material — a species of fiber-reinforced plastic analogically similar to familiar glass-reinforced plastic (“fiberglass”). Carbon fibers themselves are only one component of the material’s composite matrix, the other being some sort of plastic resin such as epoxy, polyester, vinyl ester or nylon. Some nominal “carbon fiber” composites also contain other fibers like kevlar, aluminum, polypropylene, or glass fiber reinforcement.

Amazingly Strong

Carbon fiber itself (a tip of the hat to Wikipedia here) consists of extremely thin fibers about 0.0002–0.0004 inches (0.005–0.010 mm) in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms bonded together in microscopic crystals which are roughly aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber. This crystal alignment makes the fiber incredibly strong for its bulk and weight. Several thousand carbon fibers are twisted together to form a yarn, which may be used by itself or woven into a fabric of extremely high strength-to-weight ratio material.

This combination of qualities has made carbon fiber composites a popular, albeit expensive, choice for use in aerospace, sailboat, sporting, musical instrument, consumer products, motor racing and motorcycle industries, where it’s been incorporated in everything from aircraft parts and laptop computers to bicycle frames and drum shells.

Full-Size Laptop — Subcompact Weight

Apple would certainly not be the first to use carbon fiber (or more accurately Carbon fiber reinforced plastic — CFRP or CRP) in the fabrication of laptop computer enclosures. Sony’s VAIO TX series notebooks have housings made of carbon fiber. MPC’s U1000, which debuted more than two years ago, is also made with carbon fiber — a traditional-sized laptop in a subcompact 4 pound package — lighter than either the unibody 13″ MacBook or the erstwhile 12″ PowerBook.

Drawing perhaps on its association with the 2008 World Constructors’ Champion Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 motor racing team, which it sponsors, Acer’s gorgeous (at least to my sense of aesthetics) series of Ferrari 1000, Ferrari 1100, Ferrari 4000, and Ferrari 5000 PC laptops all incorporate carbon fiber in their enclosures. The Acer Ferrari 4000 was claimed to be the first notebook to employ a carbon fiber casing. Voodoo PC’s M:50 and Envy 133 laptops also use carbon fiber in their chassis.

For a visualization of what a carbon fiber MacBook might look like, check out this Gizmodo report. It’s faux carbon fiber, but emulates the look.

High-Tech Materials Bragging Right Motivation?

Kasper Jade cites unnamed sources familiar with Apple’s R&D efforts saying the likelihood would be that Cupertino would replace the Air’s lower aluminum case, or bottom cover, with one constructed from carbon fiber, which would raise production costs but shave upwards of a 100 grams off the notebook, dropping its weight from a hair over 3 pounds to approximately 2.78 pounds. Not a radical weight reduction, but it would also give Apple another high-tech materials bragging right, which we can speculate may be a big part of the motivation. Jade also suggests that while this is still strictly a rumor, it’s believed a MacBook Air carbon fiber bottom is far enough along in development that it could appear in the Air’s next revision, which in the usual scheme of things would be in the spring of 2009.

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