An iPhone made in America? Not that simple

Trump uses Android and some are made in USA. Motorola? who else?

Apple must be considered to be a Chinese company like Walmart, purveyors of goods from China, regardless of their domestic appeal, who have removed and reduced any home grown ability in their markets

If Trump truly wants to MAGA then making market forces difficult for these two companies would create US opportunity. The cost of doing so would be fairly chaotic though

However reversing decades of selling out to China has to happen sometime

American workers are not capable of assembling such a complicated device.

Replicating Shenzhen electronic manufacturing hub/supply chain in the US would require big amount of investment no one is willing to make, not the iSheep fanboys and definitely not the leeches, I meant "investors" who has been enjoying rising stock price and huge chunks of dividends.

And china is second biggest market for apple. Apple can not lost china market.

I'm waiting for the day Trump orders all Big Macs to be made in America.

Trump forces iPhone production to US.

China ignores patent rights and starts manufacturing fake iPhone at lower price and equal quality.

The market decides.

Let's wait till Walmart, etc has to source all their products in the USA.

Even though the box says Made in China, only Japanese companies are capable of making the capital and knowledge intensive high end materials and circuitry for these. That can't be replicated in the US.

Not a single part in an iPhone is made in the US. No transistor, capacitor, resistor, diode used on every circuit board on the planet is made in the US. The US doesn't even have access to the rare earth minerals to make many important electrical parts.

E v e r y . S i n g l e . P a r t . o f . E v e r y . S i n g l e . E l e c t r i c a l . D e v i c e. i n . t h e . U . S .

Trump is so stupid that he doesn't even know how stupid, stupid is.

"That can't be replicated in the US."

The original iMacs were made in the USA. These are the products that revolutionized the IT world, secured America's dominance and were made at a time when everyone said no American company could ever compete with the Japanese in electronics. Your comment is merely redux to that misguided thinking.

If apple can't make phones in the US now, it's because the global elite have rigged the system to be this way or dont want the public to believe it's possible.That's all.

Japan had determined through scientific research of the ocean floor that the rare earth metals are available there and no one actually needs China for those materials. That could help

But who is this kidding? Apple isn't going to part with 300%? 400%? 500%? markup and its $200 Billion in cash reserves when it's basically a Chinese company.

Trump is a sucker, and the leader of same if they believe anything will happen

@gokai - actually many of the components of the i-Phone are made in the U.S. Additionally, much of the circuitry is in fact designed in the U.S. as well as the hardware/software integration.

By the way I work with many Japanese high tech manufacturers and have utmost respect for their ability to manufacture precision devices.

@Jeff - I believe Apple could make the phones in the U.S. now, however it would drive up the cost.

Regarding your comment about the global elite.....it may not be so far off.

This so-called "global elite" have had a couple of mentions here today; who are they exactly?

This so-called "global elite" have had a couple of mentions here today; who are they exactly?

Trump for one.

@Qwertyjapan - While I do not think it is reasonable for 100% of the i-Phone to be U.S. made, you may find the article below interesting.

http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/where-are-apple-products-made-how-much-does-iphone-cost-make-trump-foxconn-3633832/

Let's dive into the individual parts that make up an Apple device. More specifically, let's look at Apple's iPhone line. Here's a breakdown of the components that go into the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 6:

Accelerometer: Bosch in Germany. Invensense in the United States. Audio Chipsets and Codec: Cirrus Logic in the United States (outsourced for manufacturing). Baseband processor: Qualcomm in the United States (outsourced for manufacturing). Batteries: Samsung in South Korea. Huizhou Desay Battery in China. Cameras: Sony in Japan. OmniVision in the United States produces the front-facing FaceTime camera chip but subcontracts TMSC (in Taiwan) for manufacturing. Chipsets and Processors: Samsung in South Korea and TSMC in Taiwan. Alongside their partner GlobalFoundries in the United States. Controller Chips: PMC Sierra and Broadcom Corp in the United States (outsourced for manufacturing). Display: Japan Display and Sharp in Japan. LG Display in South Korea. DRAM: TSMC in Taiwan. SK Hynix in South Korea. eCompass: Alps Electric in Japan. Fingerprint sensor authentication: Authentec makes it in China but outsources it to Taiwan for manufacturing. Flash memory: Toshiba in Japan and Samsung in South Korea. Gyroscope: STMicroelectronics in France and Italy. Inductor coils (audio): TDK in Japan. Main Chassis Assembly: Foxconn and Pegatron in China. Mixed-signal chips (such as NFC): NXP in Netherlands. Plastic Constructions (for the iPhone 5c): Hi-P and Green Point in Singapore. Radio Frequency Modules: Win Semiconductors (module manufacturers Avago and RF Micro Devices) in Taiwan. Avago technologies and TriQuint Semiconductor in the United States. Qualcomm in the United States for LTE connectivity. Screen and Glass (for the display): Corning (Gorilla Glass) in the United States. GT Advanced Technologies produces the sapphire crystals in the screens. Semiconductors: Texas Instruments, Fairchild and Maxim Integrated in the United States. Touch ID sensor: TSMC and Xintec in Taiwan. Touchscreen Controller: Broadcom in the United States (outsourced for manufacturing). Transmitter and Amplification Modules: Skyworks and Qorvo in the United States (outsourced for manufacturing).

If the President Trump Excuitive Order are made law, I personal will not be purchasing an USA products until they are penalised for for they irresponsible. The USA seem to forget about loyalty to your Mates, mates like Mexico. No My loyalty to the USA was wanting when the USA want to war with Iraq on the back of 40 million votes. This lastest example I will not tollerate. I love MAC and I am cruelling myself. But Loyalty is a big part of how I live my life.

If Trump truly wants to MAGA then making market forces difficult for these two companies would create US opportunity. The cost of doing so would be fairly chaotic though

Will America be great after that chaos though? Like the article said, it's not only the manufacturing or components, it's also the raw materials, of which China produces a lot in mining, and is some cases, have a monopoly in. If they make stuff in the US, they'll still need to import that from China, so how does that work? Including the extra tax on it, it'll be more expensive then what it already is being made in the US, and what happens when China decides not to export these raw materials (trade war)? What happens when China makes something more affordable and just as good of devices for other markets, especially the countries that were also targeted by Trump's tariffs?

The ‘Make in America’ and ‘Buy America’ policies of the new US administration have to face many untold hurdles before being successful. The story of Apple and its much publicized iPhone is different altogether. Apple products are developed and designed in the US while components are made and assembled elsewhere. This situation can hardly change in the foreseeable future, and any move to do everything within USA will escalate the production cost. The main Apple contractor Foxconn already have established huge plants in China and new ones are planned for other countries in Asia, such as India. Meanwhile, Apple is facing keen competition from other emerging Asian smart phone producers and it could all possibly mean the final episode of Apple Story is not far from reality.

PRC can't process the rare earth metals. They need western nations to make them useful.

As for smartphone components many are not made in PRC either parts like CMOS sensors for the camera, the quartz transducer, Li Ion batteries and LC screens are made in Japan.I believe the mock up for exterior case used to create the mold is made in Japan as well.

Shoot, they can't even make a decent package that doesn't take a hammer to open. They do make a lot of guns though.

Apple benefits in Asia from a network that goes beyond subcontractors assembling smartphones, tablets or laptops. The California-based firm relies on a dense ecosystem of companies that make components and spare parts for its devices as well.

Maybe should be reworded more simply. Apple benefits from slave labour.

You know I see "Trump" is incredibly stupid" all the time here, but he is richer than all of us put together by his business skills and was voted as President. So could some smart people, not like Trump, explain that to me? Its OK I'm pretty dumb with these things so don't I won't be offended.

Companies like Apple do not operate on a 4 year (or perhaps even an 8 year) schedule. They're planning way ahead.

Why would they accept and invest loads of money on something that could be pulled out from under them in 4 to 8 years?

Moreover, we very well may be at the point where it's just smarter business to operate in China. It's closer/easier to ship to India, Australia etc, there's less BS that comes with moving through the States, etc etc etc.

No hate for America, but if it truly wants to be great again it needs to do a lot better than strong-arming giant companies.

The iPhone 7 has 5 main chips and 10 small connectors. The reason companies are reticent is to avoid massive taxes awaiting. The labor component of the iPhone is small.

PRC can't process the rare earth metals. They need western nations to make them useful.

Uhm, China literally makes most of that stuff there....

@Harry

"This so-called "global elite" .....who are they exactly?"

The 1%. The people who gather each January in Davos, for one. Directors of multinational corporations. The heads of such organizations as the World Bank and the IMF, senior managers of financial institutions, and the first line of stakeholders for these extremely powerful and wealthy individuals.

It's ok that you can't identify them. You're not supposed to.

It would be funny if all big companies stopped selling in america, leaving america to nothing till america begs them to come back on their own terms. Companies should have more right to decide what to do with their company, not lesser. Its already bad enough

http://comparecamp.com/how-where-iphone-is-made-comparison-of-apples-manufacturing-process/

Apple already has created lots of jobs in USA, in the realistic scenario: it has almost 500 brick-mortar stores in USA, not to mention the labs in some states. Bringing factories to USA could simply ruin the successful Apple model every other company dreams of copying. Anyway I thing in the next couple of years, Apple will indeed create a huge factory in American soil: an Apple car assembly line. This is going to be huge.