Inside Foxconn, Home Of The iPhone Factory

NPR

Published April 7, 2015 at 12:40 PM EDT

Workers put up scaffolding on a building owned by the contract manufacturer Foxconn International Holdings Ltd on November 28, 2010 in Shenzhen, China. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

The Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group may have gone unnoticed among Western audiences, had it not been for the outbreak of criticism over its harsh factory conditions, which came to light in 2012.

Eager to present a new face, the company responsible for making products like Apple’s iPhone, Amazon’s Kindle and Microsoft’s Xbox One agreed to allow Dawn Chmielewski and Walt Mossberg of the tech news site Re/code to take a tour of a large facility in Shenzhen in the south China province of Guangdong where it makes iPads and Macs.

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson spoke with Mossberg for a look behind the iCurtain and into today’s Foxconn.

Re/code: Where Apple Products Are Born: A Rare Glimpse Inside Foxconn's Factory Gates

Guest

Walt Mossberg, co-executive editor, reviewer and columnist for Re/code. He tweets @waltmossberg.