iPhone "made in USA": What would make it possible – and what wouldn't
The US government's current customs drive aims to bring high-tech products back home. How realistic is that?
iPhone 16: 20 percent of all iPhones are already said to come from India. But what about the USA?
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch)
Today 20%, then again 145%, then again 20% – and in between no tariffs at all: currently it is difficult to follow the erratic approach of the Trump administration, which, according to its statements, is trying to facilitate more industrial relocations to the USA and reduce the trade deficit at the same time. The problem is that this sounds too good to be true. No company – not even the clever logisticians at Apple – can switch production within a very short space of time. Even the relocation of 20 percent of iPhone capacity to India took years and was associated with pain. So a realistic view is needed. Can iPhones be produced in the USA without the devices costing 3,000 US dollars or more? And if so, how?
The problem of automation
Apple's supply chain in China has been established for decades. The company has long since stopped producing itself, instead using contract manufacturers such as Foxconn, which in turn has over a million employees on call. This has not been so easy in recent times, as young people in China are less and less interested in this type of job. Nevertheless, production runs almost smoothly every year – and up to 200 million iPhones plus Macs and many accessories roll off the production line.
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The upstream suppliers in the USA alone would be extremely difficult – if they exist at all. In India, the manufacturers mainly work with parts from China, while Apple is trying to produce more and more components locally. Of course, Apple could also simply have the Chinese components assembled in the USA. However, this would have to be highly automated because the necessary quantities of labor are simply not available. And someone would have to set up the automation.
Shortage of skilled workers
Finally, there is another problem: the shortage of skilled workers. In China, there is an army of so-called tooling engineers who set up production chains, set up machines and ensure that production runs smoothly. “You could probably put the number of tooling engineers in the USA in a room,” Apple CEO Tim Cook is reported to have once said. In China, there are many thousands.
Nevertheless, the US government is optimistic. “The army of millions and millions of people [in China] will be automated,” Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told US media. But would that even be possible? Apple's production is changing so quickly that human intervention is necessary. The crux of the matter is and remains the iPhone, Apple's most important product. Analyst Dan Ives from investment firm Wedbush even believes that iPhones manufactured in West Virginia or New Jersey would cost up to 3,500 dollars. He believes that reshoring is impossible and that this is “a fictional narrative”.
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