What is a CM. Asian designer and manufacturers? How about Jonathon Ives and his designers at Apple? You are saying most of Apple’s research and design is done by its Asian (Taiwanese) partners?
A CM is a Contract Manufacturer. Many times they also offer value-add capability like PCB layout, component selection, subsystem design, etc.
Jonathon Ivey and team handle mainly industrial design - the look and feel of the product. Actual PCB layout, mechanical engineering to make those industrial designs a reality? Much is done at the CM.
It’s not so much the research that’s leveraged, but the design. Likewise with HP, Dell, and other brands. About the only ones who really DO everything themselves are Asus, Acer, and Toshiba; everyone else pretty much uses CMs to build and do a good amount of the design of the product, especially the inside guts.
Now, Apple - like many companies - has final approval of the design that the CM does, but I can guarantee you that if the CM recommends a flex trace run a certain way, or a screw be added in a specific location that Apple - like all other PC brands - would do exactly what the CM recommends. The CM is the expert in actual manufacturing.
And that’s the dirty little secret - Apple, HP, Dell are not manufacturers. They’re concept development and marketing brand companies. They really don’t build anything - they outsource the manufacturing.
It would be like you coming up with a great idea for a new sports car, putting all your thoughts down on paper, then going to Ford to actually do the design of where and how the strut towers actually mount to the chassis, optimize the engine mounts and exhaust routing, heat shield placement, and production. You conceived the product, and you marketed it - but did you actually do the nuts-and-bolts of design (programming the CNC welders, the sheet metal stamps, choose the glues for securing parts) and manufacturing? Nope.