In Pictures: Food of Masque in Mumbai, India

Fine Dining Innovative Indian Cuisine Showcasing Local Ingredients

No.16 of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants

Charts: Forecast of World Economy Ranking

Source : Goldman Sachs

Chart: U.S. Computer/Electronics Manufacturers Are Spending Big to Increase Manufacturing Capacity

Source : Apricitas Economics

苹果Vision Pro背后：中国供应链贡献了64%，但收入仅占30%

苹果终于发布了大玩具“Apple Vision Pro”。这是一款AR眼镜，据说苹果研发了7年，为此还申请了5000多个专利，才打造出来。

而与同类产品相比，苹果的Vision Pro确实很牛，比如做到了同类最轻，只有300多克。能够提供120度的视野，基本等同于人类的眼睛，体验最强，还首次使用了硅基Micro OLED屏，让画面更清晰。同时使用了12个摄像头，5个传感器，人机交互体验更棒。

而据外媒体拆解苹果的这个Apple Vision Pro，据称其BOM硬件硬件超过了1500美元，而苹果卖3499美元，BOM毛利率控制在57%左右。

另外从拆解后的零件来看，大家可以看到其所有供应链中，中国厂商最多，中国大陆和中国台湾供应链提供了Vision Pro的64%零件和最终组装。

比如追踪摄像头来自兆威机电和高，光机设备来自中国台湾的阳明光学和玉晶光电；电池来自德赛，声学部分来自歌尔，甚至整机制造是立讯精密完成，还有富士康、

但是，中国厂商虽然提供了64%的零件和最终组装，但赚的钱却很少，算下来只拿到了只拿到了成本的1/3，也就是500美元左右。

真正最值钱的是什么？是苹果的M2芯片、R1芯片，还有三星/SK海力士/铠侠等的ROM和RAM存储芯片，以及来自索尼/LG的那一套1.3英寸硅基Micro OLED屏幕。这几大部件就超过了600美元，占到了总成本1500美元的40%以上。

而中国供应链虽多，但更多的都是提供10美元及以下的元件等，其中最多的可能是组装的立讯精密了，有130美元的组装费，但立讯精密组装工时非常复杂，耗时非常多，赚的也是辛苦钱。

很明显，在核心科技上，苹果还是交给了美国、日本、韩国的厂商，比如芯片、屏幕等，我们更多的还是提供一些科技含量相对较低的技术和产品。

这说明什么，相信大家都懂的，那就是我们的企业或者说整个中国制造，都需要向更上游，更有科技含量的方向前进，需要真正掌握核心科技，才能够赚到更多的钱，才能有话语权，让自己变的不可替代，否则随时都有可能被苹果踢走。

Source : OF Week

---

Infographic: Annual Working Hours in OECD Countries

See large image . . . . . .

Source : Visual Capitalist

Unwanted Space: World’s Empty Office Buildings Have Become a Debt Time Bomb

From Bloomberg . . . . . . . . .

In New York and London, owners of gleaming office towers are walking away from their debt rather than pouring good money after bad. The landlords of downtown San Francisco’s largest mall have abandoned it. A new Hong Kong skyscraper is only a quarter leased.

The creeping rot inside commercial real estate is like a dark seam running through the global economy. Even as stock markets rally and investors are hopeful that the fastest interest-rate increases in a generation will ebb, the trouble in property is set to play out for years.

After a long buying binge fueled by cheap debt, owners and lenders are grappling with changes in how and where people work, shop, and live in the wake of the pandemic. At the same time, higher interest rates are making it more expensive to buy or refinance buildings.

A tipping point is coming: In the US alone, about $1.4 trillion of commercial real estate loans are due this year and next, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. When the deadline arrives, owners facing large principal payments may prefer to default instead of borrowing again to pay the bill.

Major institutional owners including Blackstone, Brookfield and, Pimco have already chosen to stop payments on some buildings because they have better uses for their cash and resources.

The number of transactions is plunging—and when deals do happen, the price declines are stark.

In the US values for institutional-quality offices are down 27 per cent since March 2022, when interest rates started going up, according to data analytics company Green Street. Apartment building prices have declined 21 per cent, and malls are off 18 per cent. Office prices are expected to fall over 25 per cent in Europe and almost 13 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region before hitting a trough, PGIM Real Estate, a unit of Prudential Financial, forecasts.

Commercial real estate’s woes will add to the stress on a financial system that’s already reeling from this year’s crisis in regional banks. And as the downturn deepens, it stands to have a transformational impact on some cities as they contend with empty buildings and lower property tax revenue.

Source : Business Standard

---

Read also at BNN Bloomberg

Singapore’s Skyscrapers Defy Global Commercial Downturn . . . . .

American Medical Association Adopts New Policy Clarifying Role of BMI As a Measure in Medicine

Delegates at the Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates adopted policy aimed at clarifying how body mass index (BMI) can be used as a measure in medicine. The new policy was part of the AMA Council on Science and Public Health report which evaluated the problematic history with BMI and explored alternatives. The report also outlined the harms and benefits of using BMI and pointed to BMI as an imperfect way to measure body fat in multiple groups given that it does not account for differences across race/ethnic groups, sexes, genders, and age-span. Given the report’s findings, the new policy supports AMA in educating physicians on the issues with BMI and alternative measures for diagnosing obesity.

Under the newly adopted policy, the AMA recognizes issues with using BMI as a measurement due to its historical harm, its use for racist exclusion, and because BMI is based primarily on data collected from previous generations of non-Hispanic white populations. Due to significant limitations associated with the widespread use of BMI in clinical settings, the AMA suggests that it be used in conjunction with other valid measures of risk such as, but not limited to, measurements of visceral fat, body adiposity index, body composition, relative fat mass, waist circumference and genetic/metabolic factors. The policy noted that BMI is significantly correlated with the amount of fat mass in the general population but loses predictability when applied on the individual level. The AMA also recognizes that relative body shape and composition differences across race/ethnic groups, sexes, genders, and age-span is essential to consider when applying BMI as a measure of adiposity and that BMI should not be used as a sole criterion to deny appropriate insurance reimbursement.

“There are numerous concerns with the way BMI has been used to measure body fat and diagnose obesity, yet some physicians find it to be a helpful measure in certain scenarios,” said AMA Immediate Past President Jack Resneck, Jr. M.D. “It is important for physicians to understand the benefits and limitations of using BMI in clinical settings to determine the best care for their patients.”

Source : American Medical Association

---

Read also at New York Post

BMI standards are ‘racist’: American Medical Association . . . . .