Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I care, you care, but I doubt a majority of the population cares.

I'll use Walmart as an example. They sell crap. The cheapest crap because it's the cheapest in price. It's like a gigantic 99 cent store. People flock to Walmart because of the cheapest prices. To convince people to buy American we'd first have to convince places like Walmart to basically stock more expensive items.

I recently bought ribbedtee undershirts from Amazon. Walmart would never stock a $20 undershirt. It wouldn't sell.

Agree with this completely. People spout off that they'll 'Buy American', but consumers have consistently they will ALWAYS go for the lower price. Always.
 
  • Like
Reactions: akash.nu
Tim Cook says they make the iPhone in China because of skill, not price.

Is this guy a complete total 100% joke? Does he realize how incredibly stupid he sounds making up nonsense like this?
The Chinese worker will work long hours for little pay, THAT'S why the iPhone is made in China.
Try another line of bull, Timmy
 
  • Like
Reactions: Weaselboy
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601491/the-all-american-iphone/

More like between $30 and $100 difference depending on how you calculate it.

I would gladly pay the difference if it would help some folks get jobs.

Me too, but what if they had a special edition that was made in America - you could only get this special color or finish if it's made here. That way it would appeal to those who want a fashionable exclusive, as well as people like us who just want to bring some manufacturing back home.
 
Agree with this completely. People spout off that they'll 'Buy American', but consumers have consistently they will ALWAYS go for the lower price. Always.
With the Holiday Season upon us, be ready to watch Millions of Americans buying the traditional "Big Screen TV" on the news broadcasts.

You won't see anybody proudly stating, they gladly paid more for an American-Made one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: duffman9000
Wouldn't be cheaper to just to manufacture "Magic"? Maybe get David Blaine come down teach about, say, 5k of us here in the US how to get results out of a Sorcerer Stone (yeah...plain rocks) for our daily communication and media needs?

"Facebookatolatallus!"

Those who learn initially could pass this on to our fellow citizens. This would surely be Apple's upheaval, and to China's demise.

Yep... insane.

Good luck, Trumpy-boy and your Trumptolians, in getting those vocational jobs back in 4 years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mantan
Right, Trump this, Trump that, he's horrible, etc. But it's OK for you to sh*t on someone from rural America who is uneducated, and might need a job to support their family? How childish. Get lost man.

Yep they're not any more special than anyone else. I'm white and have a full time job. But because I don't live in Appalachia or the rust belt I'm not considered white working class and thus not pandered to. Just because Donald Trump used a certain group of people to get elected doesn't mean we all need to start pandering to them. Fact is Donald Trump didn't give a crap about these people until someone told him exploiting their plight could land him the most powerful job in the world.
[doublepost=1479431416][/doublepost]
With the Holiday Season upon us, be ready to watch Millions of Americans buying the traditional "Big Screen TV" on the news broadcasts.

You won't see anybody proudly stating, they gladly paid more for an American-Made one.
I'd love to know how many Walmart shoppers look for a made in the USA label.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mantan
Yep they're not any more special than anyone else. I'm white and have a full time job. But because I don't live in Appalachia or the rust belt I'm not considered white working class and thus not pandered to. Just because Donald Trump used a certain group of people to get elected doesn't mean we all need to start pandering to them. Fact is Donald Trump didn't give a crap about these people until someone told him exploiting their plight could land him the most powerful job in the world.
[doublepost=1479431416][/doublepost]
I'd love to know how many Walmart shoppers look for a made in the USA label.
Look at it this way, literally & figuratively we're all going to be a lot more likely to get coal for Christmas.

Can't wait to see "It's a Wonderful Life" remade with Trump as Potter.
 
of course, but the reality is that is too late to get jobs back now, you need to train them first and that takes years to amass the amount of workers. too late
I don't agree with that thinking because it doesn't address the trajectory of manufacturing technology. If anything this presents new opportunities for automation to take over these jobs, potentially offering a chance for the United States to not only control manufacturing domestically, but also to become pioneers in more advanced robotics sectors, thus creating even more mid-to-high-end jobs to engineer and service this equipment. I think that is the direction the world is going in, and the only reason why cheap Chinese labor is still used is because the break even point for domestic use of mass-scale robotics has not been reached yet. When it becomes cheaper to do so, especially if a 45% tariff comes to pass, you better believe the companies will flock to whatever is cheapest (hence why they went to China in the first place).
 
Make 'Murica great again!!

And the 96% of the world who does not live in the USA, does not care.

The bigger danger is the US getting blocked from Asian markets, that is where all the consumer growth is.
There is also the danger of being blocked from rare earth materials that are required for all this high tech.

China will soon be the worlds largest economy, and Asia accounts for 60% of the worlds population, it will be far more important to be able to trade with Asian nations than it will be to trade with the US (who already has a protectionist economy).

However, no one has said all iPhones, it may be just the ones for the US market will get made there, and any production is many years away, its far more likely Trump will not be in office by then. Growth in the Asian markets would see a higher percentage of profits come from international sources, currently over 60% and this will force Apple to keep production in China as it will need to remain competitive internationally.

Its not just the cost of the iPhone, its the cost of the manufacturing factory, the maintenance, cost of power, water, transportation of parts, the retooling costs for the new models that come out annually. Unless substantial savings can be made in manufacturing labour costs (Chinese wages are about 1/10th US wages) to offset these higher costs then I would expect a price rise for the US market.

To see the impact of US manufacturing we could look at the Mac Pro and how this has stagnated, and I would suggest the cost of retooling to upgrade the product line is simply not cost effective.
[doublepost=1479445309][/doublepost]
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601491/the-all-american-iphone/

More like between $30 and $100 difference depending on how you calculate it.

I would gladly pay the difference if it would help some folks get jobs.

The 96% of the world who is not in the USA disagrees with you.
[doublepost=1479445413][/doublepost]
Agree with this completely. People spout off that they'll 'Buy American', but consumers have consistently they will ALWAYS go for the lower price. Always.

Voting with ones wallet is always more effective than voting with ones mouth.
[doublepost=1479445600][/doublepost]
Me too, but what if they had a special edition that was made in America - you could only get this special color or finish if it's made here. That way it would appeal to those who want a fashionable exclusive, as well as people like us who just want to bring some manufacturing back home.

And what if in return China put tariffs of US brands, on cars, planes, computers, medical technology.

And then you think that China is trying to set up a free trade bloc in Asia, some 60% of the worlds population, and the area with the greatest consumer growth potential.
 
"Skill"??? Hahaha that is a good one. Everyone knows that companies outsource to China (and Mexico, Taiwan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, etc.) because of "skill"!
</s>
Being able to work concentrated over a longer period of time, while doing the same thing over and over again like a robot, is definitely a skill. If they move the production to US, employees would constantly moan around(looking at this forum), come late back from lunch, talk and laugh during the work, check facebook and write messages, and rebel around because of salary.

If they move the production to US, then just a hand full of engineers jobs will be created.
The rest will be simply done by robots.
 
Being able to work concentrated over a longer period of time, while doing the same thing over and over again like a robot, is definitely a skill. If they move the production to US, employees would constantly moan around(looking at this forum), come late back from lunch, talk and laugh during the work, check facebook and write messages, and rebel around because of salary.

If they move the production to US, then just a hand full of engineers jobs will be created.
The rest will be simply done by robots.

If they make iPhones in the US, it will simply be a small offshoot of the main production in China .
ALL the iPhone not made for the US will be made in China, all the industrial development will be done in China
and when it has been sorted, it will simply be replicated in the US, effectively a software update for the automation to account for the new phones.

When the political rhetoric has died away and the factory needs a significant over haul it will simply get recycled and disposed of.
 
  • Like
Reactions: arkitect
why not just build your own plant? Cut the middle-man out.
Apple used to do this I believe
 
It's too expensive to manufacture in the USA. If trump govt plans to do that then Apple will simply increase the prices of their devices and it will not be affordable for an average joe.
 
It's a principle thing, and the role of government. I believe that the Federal Government should be there to protect rights, not provide everything for everybody. Plus, I do own stock in corporations, so it does affect me.

Ok. If we lower taxes for corps. Should we also get rid of the welfare for corps? Since you believe governments should not provide everything to everybody.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JeffyTheQuik
Consumerism? It's free markets. Democracy is not freedom by the way. If you think a free and voluntary exchange of goods and services is not freedom, than youre right on board with most of the rest of thr USA.
I'd consider democracy in the workplace, where you spend 1/3 of your life, to be more freedom than having the ability to buy chinese produced good X or Y. But we live for our possessions here in the USA I guess....
 
I'd consider democracy in the workplace, where you spend 1/3 of your life, to be more freedom than having the ability to buy chinese produced good X or Y. But we live for our possessions here in the USA I guess....

The issue is with the view "here in the USA". Nothing is local anymore. Everything is global, especially a consumer centric market like the USA.
 
The issue is with the view "here in the USA". Nothing is local anymore. Everything is global, especially a consumer centric market like the USA.
People are local. Jobs are local.

Right now we've got a service industry (the only area of actual "recovery", at dramatically lower wages and benefits, after the recession), finance, and building bombs/weapons. Building iPhones in the USA sounds like a "gee whiz isn't that great" kind of thing, but if it's done the GM route of ****** pay then what is the point?

I'm tired of seeing the unemployment rate being touted as a sign of how good things are, when most Americans can't scrape together $2000 for an emergency. People would say that just means most of the population makes poor choices, but that ignores that wages have not budged since the late 60's and to prop this broken system up in the 70's the banks just made credit and debt widely available to give the illusion that the middle class hasn't been systematically ****ed over for 40 years.
 
CNBC's Jon Fortt tweeted:

Don't believe Nikkei story re Apple onshoring #iPhone production. My recent reporting tells me the same prohibitive challenges remain.

I wouldn't be surprised if some pro trump surrogate made up this story.
 
Agree with this completely. People spout off that they'll 'Buy American', but consumers have consistently they will ALWAYS go for the lower price. Always.

Well, this kind of thing works both ways: People need cheap crap because wages and pay are low and/or stagnant which is controlled by the companies that employ everyone. So, if wages went UP then I suspect people would be able to pay more for quality goods. But you cant ask them to pay more for day to day items if you refuse to raise their wages.

Just saying. For this to all work, BOTH sides have to give in a little bit. Companies cant be so stingy with pay and consumers have to be willing to buy higher cost products.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NT1440
People are local. Jobs are local.

Right now we've got a service industry (the only area of actual "recovery", at dramatically lower wages and benefits, after the recession), finance, and building bombs/weapons. Building iPhones in the USA sounds like a "gee whiz isn't that great" kind of thing, but if it's done the GM route of ****** pay then what is the point?

I'm tired of seeing the unemployment rate being touted as a sign of how good things are, when most Americans can't scrape together $2000 for an emergency. People would say that just means most of the population makes poor choices, but that ignores that wages have not budged since the late 60's and to prop this broken system up in the 70's the banks just made credit and debt widely available to give the illusion that the middle class hasn't been systematically ****ed over for 40 years.

It's far too easy to get into debt in America. That's the problem. Interest rates in banks are disgusting. People try to get things the easier way than trying work for them. If manufacturing moves to America the cost of the products will go up as well and then people will moan again. It's not going to solve the problem.

Basic point is western economy is based on imports and that's how it is for better or for worse at this point in time. Making all revolutionary changes at the same time will simply take the country down.

First the UK chooses to leave the EU, then America chooses to make Trump president who's looking to build bloody walls in the age of cooperation and borderless work culture and now these other big financial decisions that are going to come through as a result of that.

We are going in the direction of doom earlier than predicted.!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.