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{{Infobox company|name=Apple Inc.|image=Apple logo.png|caption=Logo of Apple Inc. since 1998|founding_name=Apple Computer Company|founding_date=1 April 1976|founder=Steve Wozniak<br>Steve Jobs|industry=Computing, consumer goods|headquarters=1 Apple Park Way, Cupertino, California, [[United States]]|key_people=Tim Cook (CEO)|employee_number=164,000 (2022)<ref>[https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/number-of-employees Apple: Number of Employees 2010-2023 | AAPL] ''Macrotrends''</ref>|revenue=$394.328B (2022)}}
'''Apple Inc.''' is an [[Imperialism|imperialist]] mega-corporation specialized in luxury computer technology and consumer goods based in the [[United States]]. Founded in 1976, Apple is one of the entities which constitutes the "[[big tech]]" corporate oligopoly. As of 2023, Apple products consume a considerable market share in [[Western]] countries.<ref>[https://www.statista.com/statistics/576473/united-states-quarterly-pc-shipment-share-apple/ Apple's PC unit shipment share in the United States from 2013 to 2023, by quarter] ''Statista''</ref>

Apple commits labor abuses, privacy violations, and anti-consumer practices.  Apple products are often manufactured in inhumane and oppressive conditions with meager wages.<ref>[https://www.scribd.com/document/95395223/Sweatshops-Are-Good-for-Apple-and-Foxconn-But-Not-for-Workers# Sweatshops Are Good For Apple and Foxconn, But Not For Workers] by Yi Yi Debby (31 May 2012) ''Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour''</ref> Apple also regularly collaborates in mass-surveillance efforts with the Chinese and United States governments,<ref>[https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/17/apple-nsa/?guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmN6Lw&guce_referrer_cs=U5TxrCVG_vXnTBe_Cuw88A Why Was Apple Late To the PRISM Party?] by Alexia Tsotsis (18 June 2013) ''TechCrunch''</ref><ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-china-idUSKCN1AU1LH China's Guizhou province to oversee Apple's data project] (14 August 2017) ''Reuters''</ref> which is aided by the mega-corporation's proprietary operating systems and software.<ref name=":0">[https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-apple.en.html Apple's Operating Systems Are Malware] ''gnu.org''</ref>

== Practices ==

=== Privacy violations ===
[[File:Apple-protest-sign.jpg|thumb|Sign displayed during a labor dispute brought about by Apple's exploitative practices. ]]
Users of Apple's proprietary operating systems (mainly macOS and iOS) have their personal data and routine computer usage statistics sent to Apple's servers regularly.<ref name=":0" /> For example, Apple collects the IP address and location associated with users' computers,<ref>[https://www.pcmag.com/news/apple-explains-why-it-grabs-data-from-mac-computers-amid-privacy-concerns Apple Explains Why It Grabs Data From Mac Computers Amid Privacy Concerns] by Michael Kan (16 November 2020) ''pcmag.com''</ref> the exact applications installed and opened by users,<ref name=":1">[https://mspoweruser.com/macos-big-sur-has-its-own-telemetry-privacy-nightmare/ macOS Big Sur has its own telemetry privacy nightmare] by Surur (20 November 2020) ''MSpoweruser''</ref> technical information on users' devices,<ref name=":2">[https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/ Apple Privacy Policy] ''Apple''</ref> along with other personal data such as financial and health information.<ref name=":2" /> Such sensitive data is, at least since the release of macOS Big Sur, impossible to fully block and is transmitted in plain-text.<ref name=":1" /> 

Apple's operating systems contain multiple backdoors within them. Apple also collaborates in the US government's PRISM surveillance program.

=== Planned obsolescence ===
Apple's practices represent a text-book example of planned obsolescence, particularly in recent times. Apple purposefully designs its products in a way which is hostile to the user, with the batteries contained in their mobile devices (such as iPhones) being made deliberately irreplaceable as well. In doing this, Apple forces its mobile users to either purchase a new, expensive device or turn their faulty device in to an Apple-approved repair center for a tedious, expensive week-long process to have the battery replaced, during which Apple erases the device's memory.<ref>[https://www.ifixit.com/News/14282/apples-latest-innovation-is-turning-planned-obsolescence-into-planned-failure Apple’s ‘Innovation’ Turns Planned Obsolescence Into Planned Failure] by Kyle Wiens (20 January 2011) ''www.ifixit.com''</ref>

== Commercial locations ==
[[File:AppleCorpHQ.jpg|thumb|308x308px|The extravagant corporate headquarters of Apple.]]

=== Headquarters ===
More and more of the world's wealth is being captured by the giant multinational corporations. This continues to be true even while the long-developing world capitalist overproduction crisis intensifies, which means that many big corporations are awash in huge cash hoards that they don't know what to do with. This has led a number of them into a trend of creating enormously wasteful monuments to themselves, on a par with the giant pyramids of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. The picture at the right is of the new enormously expensive Apple Corporation headquarters now under construction in Silicon Valley (California), which is in the shape of a giant space ship.

== See also ==

* [[Microsoft]]
* [[Mass surveillance in the United States]]
* [[Planned obsolescence]]

== External links ==

* [https://stallman.org/apple.html Reasons not to use Apple]
* [https://lowendmac.com/2020/dear-apple-your-services-are-no-longer-required/ Dear Apple: your services are no longer required]

== References ==
<references />
[[category:Apple Inc.| ]]
[[category:Companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Mass surveillance]]