Using Apple's supplier companies and their subsidiaries in 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2020, this paper examines the geographic distribution characteristics and the trend of changes of global value chains of Apple's parts. Then we analyze the driving mechanisms from four aspects: Globalization, marketization, localization, and technology control. This study reached four major findings. Firstly, the distribution of supplier's subsidiaries of Apple's parts are highly concentrated in a few countries or regions, particularly in the middle and low-value links. The United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, China's Taiwan, and a few Southeast Asian countries have significant distribution advantages in the middle and high-end links of global value chains of Apple's parts, and China has clear distribution advantages in the middle and low-end links. Secondly, the broad pattern of global value chains of Apple's parts is that the high-value links of suppliers are led by the United States and Japan, the medium-value links of suppliers are from Japan, Chinese mainland and China's Taiwan, and the low-value suppliers are led by the Chinese mainland and China's Taiwan, which forms a new type of linked "dragon-shaped" growth pattern, with China advancing progressively toward the "body" of the dragon. Thirdly, the global production map of Apple's parts mainly shows the geographical pattern of "R&D on the east coast of Pacific and manufacturing on the west coast". The middle and high-value links of supplier's subsidiaries are tending to be located in urban areas in North America, Western Europe, East Asia and Southeast Asia, while the low-value links of supplier's subsidiaries mainly spread to large cities in and around the southeast coast of China, such as Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. The emerging urbanized areas in Vietnam and India have released strong signals of "diversion" of middle and low-end links of supplier's subsidiaries. Fourthly, globalization has produced the basic form of global value chains of Apple's parts, which is dominated by marketization includes demand responsiveness in end markets and customer intimacy in intermediate markets, while local comparative advantage and reconstruction of comparative advantage and enterprise technology protection control and technology blockade control between countries are constantly constructing new forms, and through comprehensive interaction, the global value chains of Apple's parts are primarily concentrated in the major urbanized regions of East and Southeast Asia, North America, and Western Europe, but new changes are also arising.
