Future iPhones Could Be 'Made in America' as Apple Asks Foxconn to Consider U.S. Manufacturing

[theluggage]

Producing company will pay taxes in the US.
People will need to oversee robotics.
People will need to work in the buildings.
People will need to plan and implement.
People will need to deliver from the US to the rest of the world and pay taxes/fees/salaries accordingly.

True, a busy factory filled with lots of robotic production lines and a handful of managers, security guards and janitors would be a 100% improvement over a crumbling, abandoned factory full of rats and rusty patches where the steel presses once sat.

Its not going to bring back the thousands of decently paid operator's jobs for the masses, though, If you're not careful, the planners and implementers will telework from their $$$$/month Silicon Valley apartments, or move into the newly-gentrified part of town from out-of-state, over the heads of the locals.

This was all predicted back in the 80s with the rise of the microprocessor - the advent of globalisation and cheap human-operated manufacturing in countries with wildly different labour costs just put the march of the robots on hold for a while.

 

[jimmirehman]

The brand new, Made in the USA, iPhone 8 only $1999 for 32gb

 

[44267547]

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 gets jobs.

Absolutely. I'm in full support of this statement and the American economy.

 

[indychris]

So anyone is willing to do this at minimum wage?

Which would be how many times more than what low-wage Chinese workers make?

 

[yaxomoxay]

True, a busy factory filled with lots of robotic production lines and a handful of managers, security guards and janitors would be a 100% improvement over a crumbling, abandoned factory full of rats and rusty patches where the steel presses once sat.

Its not going to bring back the thousands of decently paid operator's jobs for the masses, though, If you're not careful, the planners and implementers will telework from their $$$$/month Silicon Valley apartments, or move into the newly-gentrified part of town from out-of-state, over the heads of the locals.

This was all predicted back in the 80s with the rise of the microprocessor - the advent of globalisation and cheap human-operated manufacturing in countries with wildly different labour costs just put the march of the robots on hold for a while.

Well, we're talking about one company here. It all depends on how many companies will follow Apple in its decision.

 

[seatton]

If they really want to test this Made in USA thing, at least they should start with Apple Watch Edition. I still cannot the logic of an expensive watch that is made in China.

 

[usarioclave]

By start something now they can figure out what's all needed to make it happen. If the CEO and board says yes then it'll happen.

 

[jmgregory1]

Trump knows that Apple is never going to make the move, which is why he singled them out. They become, much like Hillary, a distraction and something that the masses (i.e., under-educated) can get angry at, so that they're not actually recognizing the real problem - that Trump doesn't have any kind of solutions.

That is, other than to give the rich more tax breaks in the hopes that all of a sudden the rich / big companies become more civic-minded and start to do things for society, instead of just pocketing the money or giving more to shareholders (as they're legally bound to do). Except he (Trump and just about every other politician) really doesn't care whether people and companies use the money they get from the government to add jobs, because he'll just keep blaming Apple and Ford and every other company who can't do what he knows is impossible.

 

[DrewDaHilp1]

If they really want to test this Made in USA thing, at least they should start with Apple Watch Edition. I still cannot the logic of an expensive watch that is made in China.

Where was their $300 book printed? Maybe they are testing the waters with that.

 

[kevinkyoo]

you know this has absoultly notihng to do with trump.

Please read the article

 

[indychris]

It's odd to me how fine it is for other countries to look out for their own interests, but when it comes to the USA, for some reason, we're supposed to default to a position of guilt if we do the same. I would HOPE that a company like Apple, who thrived specifically BECAUSE of the support they received in this country, would want to keep/bring manufacturing here whenever possible!

 

[yaxomoxay]

Where was their $300 book printed? Maybe they are testing the waters with that.

Lulu.com !

 

[zhaoxin]

Trump, Cook and Guo are all businessmen. What they made are business decisions. We need not to applause to any of them on their decisions, we only applause to their products.

Besides, the biggest market of iPhone is no longer America, it is China, according to cnet. https://www.cnet.com/news/macbook-pro-upgrade-worth-price-laptop/

 

[kodos]

If Apple does this, I will gladly switch from Android and pay an 'Apple tax' that actually means something.

 

[Rogifan]

H1-B. Problem solved.
[doublepost=1479401727][/doublepost]

I bet you will be surprised to see how many will do it. Especially ex-automotive and ex-mining workers.

Where? What city has enough of these people to pump out iPhones in the quantities Apple needs?

 

[yaxomoxay]

Trump, Cook and Guo are all businessmen. What they made are business decisions. We need not to applause to any of them on their decisions, we only applause to their products.

I disagree. Business decisions carry social consequences, especially for a big company. GM's decisions affect Detroit.
Call it social responsibility or whatever you want.
[doublepost=1479402442][/doublepost]

Where? What city has enough of these people to pump out iPhones in the quantities Apple needs?

Come to TX, we'll build an entire city for your company.

 

[alfonsog]

It took 30+ years for manufacturing to leave USA. If trade policies were changed it would not take very long to restart all the abandoned factories.

 

[NT1440]

H1-B on a few engineers while adding a tons of manufacturing jobs will not be an issue. Abuse of H1-B (or hopefully a much better version of it) will cause issues.
It all depends on the various terms.

I work for Disney indirectly. Any massive company that has H1-B's are abusing them, period.

 

[KdParker]

In other words "USA manufacturing salaries have been slashed to the point where we can return low paid factory jobs to the country". How's it feel to be the "beneficiaries" of the destruction of middle class wages?

For those whom are unaware of what I'm talking, GM has a new two tiered manufacturing pay scale. The people that were there before the bailout are still making decent money (somewhere north of $28 an hour, miserly compared to where the pay was historically for these jobs) while all new comers are making roughly $14 an hour.

We have come full circle chasing low labor rates to the point where "worker insecurity" (Alan Greenspan's favorite concept for big business) has decimated the middle class as they are now willing to work for anything above the typical service industry wages.

Lower wages is a product of Union busting and taking away workers rigthts. Thank you Republicans.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I work for Disney indirectly. Any massive company that has H1-B's are abusing them, period.

I agree that the H1-B system sucks.

 

[Rogifan]

I'm an American. This is about American jobs. This is a product that is a luxury item, not as many would believe a necessity.

I don't get what you mean. More iPhones are sold outside of the USA than in the USA. Why should the iPhone be assembled in the USA just because Apple is headquartered here? What do people not get about a global economy and workforce?

 

[jmgregory1]

Exactly, I don't think that 10/20 yrs from now China will be that cheap, especially if they stop playing dirty with their currency.

Things have already drastically changed in China. I used to work with a wood products factory owner there and watched as he went from having his choice of good, inexpensive, laborers to shutting down lines because he couldn't get enough workers. People were choosing to go to work for many of the new tech-related manufacturers, moving to the big (really big) cities. China is what the USA was 50-75 years ago. And as their wealth increases, they're consuming more, pushing production to new lower cost places and that trend will continue. In fact the Chinese are trying to set up Africa to be the next big production growth area.

 

[NT1440]

Yea there are lots of stories like that. Also often quoted is the fact that if you make a minor change to a screw, you can get quantities of the new screw in the millions within hours in Shenzen.

I think, however, as the wealth in China increases, their tolerance of that sort of thing will decrease. As the work becomes more skilled, the workers will not tolerate that kind of employment. In small ways, this is already happening over there with wages. It's not nearly as cheap to manufacture in China as it used to be.

Exactly....which is why India is where all the manufacturing in the world is migrating to.

This is a global race to the bottom, with right now an endless supply of nations willing to play ball with false promises that their rising labor force isn't going to be abandoned as soon as they get enough political leverage to demand better compensation and working conditions.

There is a reason why Chinese industry is investing so heavily in African infrastructure building right now, they are next up once India becomes too expensive.

These are shell games, nothing more, and it's obvious to anyone who's paying attention and doesn't buy into this benevolent market ********.
[doublepost=1479402720][/doublepost]

Things have already drastically changed in China. I used to work with a wood products factory owner there and watched as he went from having his choice of good, inexpensive, laborers to shutting down lines because he couldn't get enough workers. People were choosing to go to work for many of the new tech-related manufacturers, moving to the big (really big) cities. China is what the USA was 50-75 years ago. And as their wealth increases, they're consuming more, pushing production to new lower cost places and that trend will continue. In fact the Chinese are trying to set up Africa to be the next big production growth area.

This guy gets it.

 

[DrewDaHilp1]

I don't get what you mean. More iPhones are sold outside of the USA than in the USA. Why should the iPhone be assembled in the USA just because Apple is headquartered here? What do people not get about a global economy and workforce?

Let me try to be more clear albeit a little crass. I care about Americans and their prosperity more than I do for Foreign Countries.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Lower wages is a product of Union busting and taking away workers rigthts. Thank you Republicans.

No, lower wages is a product of global competition and modern methods of quickly distributing product from far flung corners of the globe. The problem is unions still believe it's 1960, China is still going through revolution, and slow boats are the only economical way to transport merchandise. But, hey, it's alwasy comforting to have a bogey man to blame rather than trying to actually solve a problem.