Apple could make iPhones in the U.S.A. under President Trump, sources say

“iPhones might one day soon carry ‘Made in America’ labels,” Debby Wu reports for Nikkei Asian Review. “Key Apple assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn Technology Group, has been studying the possibility of moving iPhone production to the U.S., sources told the Nikkei Asian Review. ‘Apple asked both Foxconn and Pegatron, the two iPhone assemblers, in June to look into making iPhones in the U.S.,’ a source said. ‘Foxconn complied, while Pegatron declined to formulate such a plan due to cost concerns.'”

“‘Making iPhones in the U.S. means the cost will more than double,’ the source said,” Wu reports. “The person added that one view among the Apple supply chain in Taiwan is that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump may push the Cupertino, California-based tech titan to make a certain number of iPhone components at home.”

“Apple helped its Singapore-based contractor Flextronics build a Mac Pro production line in Austin, Texas in 2013, after Foxconn set up an iMac assembly line in the same state the year before,” Wu reports. “Sharp President Tai Jeng-wu, right-hand man to Foxconn’s Gou, also hinted in late October that if Apple eventually decided to produce in the U.S., he would have no option but to follow his customer’s instructions. ‘We are now building a new [advanced organic light-emitting diode] facility in Japan. We can make [OLED panels] in the U.S. too,’ he said. ‘If our key customer demands us to manufacture in the U.S., is it possible for us not to do so?'”

Wu reports, “‘Politics will trump cost concerns in the end,’ the industry executive familiar with iPhone’s production process said.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Whatever happens, we just hope it includes Fembots.

SEE ALSO:
President Trump’s Made-in-America hurdle: Asia – November 16, 2016
Apple assembler Foxconn now has 40,000 ‘Foxbot’ robots working at factories in China – October 5, 2016
Apple supplier Foxconn replaces 60,000 factory workers with robots – May 25, 2016
Foxconn robots better, but still not precise enough to assemble Apple iPhones – December 5, 2014
Foxconn CEO disappointed with current-gen iPhone-assembling robots; next-gen ‘Foxbots’ in the works – September 22, 2014
Foxconn to deploy ‘Foxbot’ robots for iPhone assembly – July 7, 2014
Why Foxconn’s iPhone robots could create American jobs – February 2, 2014
Apple dives deeper into designing and inventing robots, other manufacturing tech – November 22, 2013
Robots made Apple switch to ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ Macs – December 11, 2012
Foxconn’s 2012 plan: More robots, no layoffs, zero suicides, new factories – November 22, 2011
Foxconn to replace some workers with 1 million robots within 3 years – July 31, 2011