Chinese iPhone Shipments to US Plunge to 2011 Lows Amid Trade Tensions

[MacRumors]

Chinese shipments of iPhones and other mobile devices to the United States dropped dramatically in April, hitting their lowest levels since 2011, according to newly released customs data (via Bloomberg).

Smartphone exports from China to the US plummeted 72% to just under $700 million last month, outpacing the overall 21% decline in Chinese shipments to the United States. The sharp decline highlights how the Trump administration's aggressive tariffs campaign – which peaked with 145% levies on Chinese goods – is disrupting tech supply chains and diverting electronics production elsewhere.

Smartphones represented one of the three biggest US imports from China last year, alongside laptops and lithium-ion batteries.

The decline comes as Apple has been actively expanding production in India. In the fiscal year ending March, Apple's iPhone production in India reached $22 billion, a nearly 60% increase compared to the previous year. The company had been planning to import most US-bound iPhones from India by the end of next year.

However, during his recent state visit to Qatar, President Trump revealed he had asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to halt the company's manufacturing expansion in India. "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said. "He is building all over India."

When asked about the supply chain's future during the company's recent earnings call, Cook said: "What we learned some time ago, having everything in one location had too much risk with it. We have, over time, with certain parts of the supply chain, opened up new sources of supply. You could see that kind of thing continuing in the future."


Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Chinese iPhone Shipments to US Plunge to 2011 Lows Amid Trade Tensions

 

[TechWhisperer]

So Asian countries are being economically strangled simply because American tech giants can't keep up with actual innovation. Classic Western entitlement, crushing foreign competition instead of improving their own mediocre products.

 

[UliBaer]

I would say, this was to be expected - no?

 

[SpotOnT]

I can’t believe they don’t have robotic assembly for things like the iPhone yet.

Having 1,000,000 or so people sitting on an iPhone assembly line just sounds nuts. Anywhere in the world.

 

[jlc1978]

We can complain all we want about various decisions Tim Cook made, but when it comes to managing a supply chain he is the right person for the job. Companies should have diversified from China years ago, but that often was not possible but now it is, and as devices become more integrated and close to being able to be assembled fully via automation, we will see some interesting changes in the supply chain and how and where things are made.

Diversifying beyond China has serious political and social consequences for them as they find jobs leaving and not being replaced.

 

[SpotOnT]

So Asian countries are being economically strangled simply because American tech giants can't keep up with actual innovation. Classic Western entitlement, crushing foreign competition instead of improving their own mediocre products.

What are you on about?

What does where Apple manufactures its products have to do with innovation at Apple?

Is factory location considered “innovation” now?

 

[surfzen21]

Putting only April's shipments in is a bit disingenuous.

You would need to look at what was shipped in February and March and what was shipped in May or on its way in May and June to get a full picture.

Not just Apple but lots of companies significantly increased their product acquisition form China to the US before the tariffs hit and are now managing that in the same fashion for the current pause. Some are even looking to have product shipped before the 90 Pause/renegotiation period end for the upcoming November sales blitz that happens in the US.

If you track shipping, which is available mostly free, although the paid services are a wealth of knowledge especially if you are an investor, you can get an accurate picture of what is happening.

If you took a random months data from 2020 or 2021 or 2022 you could easily confuse what is actually happening and create a false narrative.

The bigger issue that no one is talking about is the limited availability of containers that are used for the actual transportation. This is going to effect the distribution if there is a spike in shipping orders but not available containers to ship.

 

[applesith]

Wasn't this offset by a spike in shipments ahead of the anticipated tariffs per the stories on MR about Apple fying planes full of iPhones and other devices to the US?

 

[Fuzzball84]

I can’t believe they don’t have robotic assembly for things like the iPhone yet.

Having 1,000,000 or so people sitting on an iPhone assembly line just sounds nuts. Anywhere in the world.

I can’t believe I still see people when I go out. Driving cars, shopping, going to work, eating at restaurants.

Do they not know all of this can be automated and done by AI and robots.

Self driving cars, home delivery by drone, AI agents instead of employees, home delivery of food.

does that sound nuts? When it can all be automated

What happens when it’s all automated and there are no jobs. What happens to livelihoods, crime, society.

I’d rather those people had jobs than complete automation. Politicians don’t have any answers to the economic and social consequences of mass automation.

 

[goobot]

So Asian countries are being economically strangled simply because American tech giants can't keep up with actual innovation. Classic Western entitlement, crushing foreign competition instead of improving their own mediocre products.

At least they adhere to patent law

 

[Dutch60]

So Asian countries are being economically strangled simply because American tech giants can't keep up with actual innovation. Classic Western entitlement, crushing foreign competition instead of improving their own mediocre products.

That’s about right. More and more Asian products are way better than any “Western” option.

 

[Aeronauts]

This will all go back to normal when the US and China agree a comprehensive trade deal and the tariffs are reduced.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

I can’t believe I still see people when I go out. Driving cars, shopping, going to work, eating at restaurants.

Do they not know all of this can be automated and done by AI and robots.

Self driving cars, home delivery by drone, AI agents instead of employees, home delivery of food.

does that sound nuts? When it can all be automated

What happens when it’s all automated and there are no jobs. What happens to livelihoods, crime, society.

I’d rather those people had jobs than complete automation. Politicians don’t have any answers to the economic and social consequences of mass automation.

Yes, we do. Humanity has basically overcome almost all obstacles to all of us having excellent lives, without destroying the planet in the process.

The problems are the difficulty in humans letting go of religion, nationalism, and capitalism; These are the biggest things that keep us separated.

I'm all for a Star Trek future, where those that work do so because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to.

Automation could bring this about, but human greed, racial/nationalistic/cultural supremacy, and religion would all get in the way, like it does today.

 

[mjs916]

So Asian countries are being economically strangled simply because American tech giants can't keep up with actual innovation. Classic Western entitlement, crushing foreign competition instead of improving their own mediocre products.

Did we read the same article?

 

[Fuzzball84]

Yes, we do. Humanity has basically overcome almost all obstacles to all of us having excellent lives, without destroying the planet in the process.

The problems are the difficulty in humans letting go of religion, nationalism, and capitalism; These are the biggest things that keep us separated.

I'm all for a Star Trek future, where those that work do so because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to.

Automation could bring this about, but human greed, racial/nationalistic/cultural supremacy, and religion would all get in the way, like it does today.

The Star Trek universe is a fantasy. And that universe is not devoid of greed, conflict and tribalism etc

The future depicted in Star Trek is unlikely to ever be.

 

[UliBaer]

Yes, we do. Humanity has basically overcome almost all obstacles to all of us having excellent lives, without destroying the planet in the process.

The problems are the difficulty in humans letting go of religion, nationalism, and capitalism; These are the biggest things that keep us separated.

I'm all for a Star Trek future, where those that work do so because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to.

Automation could bring this about, but human greed, racial/nationalistic/cultural supremacy, and religion would all get in the way, like it does today.

The Star Trek universe is a fantasy. And that universe is not devoid of greed, conflict and tribalism etc

The future depicted in Star Trek is unlikely to ever be.

Well, Star Trek economics are truly socialistic/communistic:

Star Trek Economics Is Just True Communism Arriving

There's an interest in the economics of Star Trek. Not just on the grounds that the economics of such a world are interesting but because there's a book just about to come out on the subject. And there's really two things that we can say about that Trekonomics, that economics [...]

www.forbes.com

That also led to political problems with the original series in the 60s...

[edit] Don't get me wrong, i know this is a fantasy and isn't even possible with human beings of today.

 

[Fuzzball84]

Well, Star Trek economics are truly socialistic/communistic:

Star Trek Economics Is Just True Communism Arriving

There's an interest in the economics of Star Trek. Not just on the grounds that the economics of such a world are interesting but because there's a book just about to come out on the subject. And there's really two things that we can say about that Trekonomics, that economics [...]

www.forbes.com

That also led to political problems with the original series in the 60s...

[edit] Don't get me wrong, i know this is a fantasy and isn't even possible with human beings of today.

No they are not, the federation of planets system maybe. But there are al sorts of systems in the Star Trek universe.

 

[UliBaer]

No they are not, the federation of planets system maybe. But there are al sorts of systems in the Star Trek universe.

Ok, sorry, didn't knew we're talking about the Ferengi...

 

[jfreedle2]

Yes, we do. Humanity has basically overcome almost all obstacles to all of us having excellent lives, without destroying the planet in the process.

The problems are the difficulty in humans letting go of religion, nationalism, and capitalism; These are the biggest things that keep us separated.

I'm all for a Star Trek future, where those that work do so because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to.

Automation could bring this about, but human greed, racial/nationalistic/cultural supremacy, and religion would all get in the way, like it does today.

Not that so much, but free will definitely will cause a problem in socialism or communism. People just do not like being told what they will do and how they will live.

 

[SpotOnT]

I can’t believe I still see people when I go out. Driving cars, shopping, going to work, eating at restaurants.

Do they not know all of this can be automated and done by AI and robots.

Self driving cars, home delivery by drone, AI agents instead of employees, home delivery of food.

does that sound nuts? When it can all be automated

What happens when it’s all automated and there are no jobs. What happens to livelihoods, crime, society.

I’d rather those people had jobs than complete automation. Politicians don’t have any answers to the economic and social consequences of mass automation.

When cameras became common, portrait artists complained that machines were putting them out of a job…but I have a hard time being convinced that cameras were bad for humanity because of that..

Working long days on an assembly line, screwing the same same screw into the same slot on thousands of iPhones, day in and day out for, for years or even decades is not a soul fulfilling job…and I have a hard time seeing the argument that having humans do this is somehow good for humanity…

Society is going to have to come up with a solution for automation, because it is coming. One thing that history makes clear is you can’t halt progress.

 

[jfreedle2]

I can’t believe I still see people when I go out. Driving cars, shopping, going to work, eating at restaurants.

Do they not know all of this can be automated and done by AI and robots.

Self driving cars, home delivery by drone, AI agents instead of employees, home delivery of food.

does that sound nuts? When it can all be automated

What happens when it’s all automated and there are no jobs. What happens to livelihoods, crime, society.

I’d rather those people had jobs than complete automation. Politicians don’t have any answers to the economic and social consequences of mass automation.

Manufacturing can be automated as they are all the same. People get bored doing repetitive tasks day and day out. AI is great when you have defined the task for it to perform. Automation will eliminate jobs for people, but it will also create other more fulfilling jobs for the people that were replaced with automation. It is not a zero-sum game.

 

[jfreedle2]

Chinese shipments of iPhones and other mobile devices to the United States dropped dramatically in April, hitting their lowest levels since 2011, according to newly released customs data (via Bloomberg).

Smartphone exports from China to the US plummeted 72% to just under $700 million last month, outpacing the overall 21% decline in Chinese shipments to the United States. The sharp decline highlights how the Trump administration's aggressive tariffs campaign – which peaked with 145% levies on Chinese goods – is disrupting tech supply chains and diverting electronics production elsewhere.

Smartphones represented one of the three biggest US imports from China last year, alongside laptops and lithium-ion batteries.

The decline comes as Apple has been actively expanding production in India. In the fiscal year ending March, Apple's iPhone production in India reached $22 billion, a nearly 60% increase compared to the previous year. The company had been planning to import most US-bound iPhones from India by the end of next year.

However, during his recent state visit to Qatar, President Trump revealed he had asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to halt the company's manufacturing expansion in India. "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said. "He is building all over India."

When asked about the supply chain's future during the company's recent earnings call, Cook said: "What we learned some time ago, having everything in one location had too much risk with it. We have, over time, with certain parts of the supply chain, opened up new sources of supply. You could see that kind of thing continuing in the future."


Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Chinese iPhone Shipments to US Plunge to 2011 Lows Amid Trade Tensions

This is good news for Apple being reliant upon a untrustworthy government.

 

[spazzcat]

This will all go back to normal when the US and China agree a comprehensive trade deal and the tariffs are reduced.

You mean when Trump dropped them fully or mostly fully seeing how China doesn't care if we build our stuff there or not.

 

[spazzcat]

So Asian countries are being economically strangled simply because American tech giants can't keep up with actual innovation. Classic Western entitlement, crushing foreign competition instead of improving their own mediocre products.

What does this have to do with the price of rice in China?

 

[Plutonius]

The tariffs had a big effect but I think the Chinese economy in general is not doing well.