Most Apple leaks come out of China manufacturing unit

The iPhone 8 will not look like any previous iPhone because it will not be the same shape as any previous iPhone. You might wonder how we know this before even Apple has made any statement about its next product. Well, all this information sourced from leak coming out of Apple's chipset maker TSMC. And this is not the one such instance of leak but there have been many leaks coming out of manufacturing facilities in China.

According to the Outline report, such leaks of internal briefing are originating from its employees. More stuff came out of Apple campuses last year than all of supply chain combined, former member of NSA was quoted as saying.

To prevent these leaks, the company searches its Chinese workers as they enter and leave factories where Apple products are made. The recording revealed that Apple screens 2.7 million employees a day in 40 factories in China.

Taking action against the practice, Apple and its contract manufacturers have cracked down on some leaks at manufacturers recently. One of the biggest leaks was in 2013 when employees at factories assembling the iPhone stole some 19,000 enclosures and then sold them in the black market.

These enclosures reveal the screen size, ports and other key elements of a device. In 2014, that number was down to 387 and by 2016, Apple only had four stolen enclosures," the report added.

However, the company has asked its employees not to talk to anyone including their families about their work, that seems not to work. The leaked recording about a briefing on leaks shows the limitations of Apple's efforts, the report added. As per experts in the industry, the most valued company needs to take both take and non-technical action to curb the menace. Through leaks Apple suffers most of losses as the company major earning come from sale of iPhone.

To curb the menace, it has also employed people from NSA, FBI and the US military to stop its confidential information from leaking out. According to the data compiled by industry tracker Gartner, Apple posted $218.1 billion in sales last year, far above the $139.1 billion posted by South Korean rival Samsung.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see if Apple can truly clamp down on leaks and turn its press conferences into the kind of incredibly surprising events they used to be before iPhone 8, which is said to bring first Augment Reality (AR) into mainstream, launch.