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Report: Apple to Switch to Advanced US-Made iPhone Camera Sensors
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turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
This has been reported on and tried many times over by various firms in a variety of industries.
It's basically always a failure.
ThailandToo
macrumors 65816
It depends on the consumer. I will pay a lot more for free made products.
If you compare a Toyota Prius with comparable options to equal a base Tesla model 3, the Prius is $44,319. The Tesla with out the $7500 tax credit is $42,490.
I constantly see on X the young generation complaining that they can’t make it today as their parents or grandparents did in the 1960’s and 70’s. What was the big difference then? Well one was things were made in America. In the 60’s and 70’s almost ever TV was made in America by companies like RCA and Zenith. Almost everything we bought then was made in America in factories here, by workers who, could afford a home, a car and live a good middle class life. Bringing manufacturing back is the answer. But today’s youth cry they don’t want these jobs. Instead the scream that I should pay their student loans off, so they can sit home and play video games on their cell phones, that are made in China, because they don’t want a manufacturing job in America.
Cuesca
macrumors 6502a
At the moment I don't own an Apple phone, but I do appreciate that my current Samsung phone is made in Korea. Would I had pay more for that? Probably not. Is it nice to know the phone I own came from the country that Samsung is headquartered in? Yes.
These products are going to be priced to what the average consumer is willing to pay for them, Apple is in the business of making money. They know what price to list the phone at, they have market research firms that will tell them exactly what their customers are willing to pay.
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GrassShark
Suspended
So if you make the Toyota more expensive, it’ll be more expensive? Meanwhile you’re not factoring in build quality and reliability for the Toyota (arguably way more valuable than whatever options you add to the Prius), I guess because they’re not available on the Tesla for any amount of money.
Cuesca
macrumors 6502a
Isn't the Model 3/Y the most reliable electric cars by a long shot?
Thinking About Going Electric? These 2026 Models Make the Cut
Wondering what electric car to buy? Our testing team looks at over 200 data points when rating vehicles. Check out what made our list of the best electric vehicles to buy in 2026.
The Best EVs To Buy In March 2026: Our Favorites In Every Category
Automakers have been culling uncompetitive electric models. But the best of the best are still going strong, with great tech at good prices.
insideevs.com
Toyota's EV offering didn't even make the top 10 list. I mean besides the 'do not buy' list namely the BZ4x along side the Subaru Solterra and Lexus RZ.
GrassShark
Suspended
The word “reliability” appears nowhere on either of those pages. If you have a link to reliability testing and rankings please share.Isn't the Model 3/Y the most reliable electric cars by a long shot?
Thinking About Going Electric? These 2026 Models Make the Cut
Wondering what electric car to buy? Our testing team looks at over 200 data points when rating vehicles. Check out what made our list of the best electric vehicles to buy in 2026.www.caranddriver.com
The Best EVs To Buy In March 2026: Our Favorites In Every Category
Automakers have been culling uncompetitive electric models. But the best of the best are still going strong, with great tech at good prices.
Toyota's EV offering didn't even make the top 10 list. I mean besides the 'do not buy' list namely the BZ4x along side the Subaru Solterra and Lexus RZ.
Cuesca
macrumors 6502a
The Best Used EVs In 2025: Reliable, Affordable Options For Every Shopper
Want the latest technology without a new-car price tag? InsideEVs expert editors tested and listed the best used EVs for every shopper.
insideevs.com
I guess they're not the top in reliability especially against higher priced offerings, but they're up there still. I guess they're the best 'affordable' EVs. Also the JD Power poll some of the questions are kinda weird, political and irrelevant to the overall reliability of the product.
Well, after 3 years of owning a Tesla Model 3, my total maintenance has been having the tires rotated. I could have done this my self, but didn’t feel like the bother. I made an appointment one the Tesla phone app, a Tesla tech came out to my house on time, did the job in my garage, and topped off the washer fluid. So of the 18 new cars I have owned, I can say that the Tesla so far has had the least maintenance of any.
I just configured the toyota to have similar features that are standard on the Tesla. One thing I couldn’t add to the Toyota was ofcourse the ability to drive its self. I took a trip last month from Maryland to Buffalo, NY, and the Tesla drove there and back by its self. That’s not available on the Toyota for any amount of money.
GrassShark
Suspended
Surely you know that this is essentially meaningless, right? One car not failing is a single data point, which is proof of nothing.
It’s almost like they’re so different that it’s a completely meaningless comparison, like I pointed out back in my first reply.
That’s false. I simply believe that Apple’s sales, being one of the largest companies in the world, should benefit American workers vs. Indian and Chinese. Why should our purchases for an American company, benefit foreign nations?
Manufacturing every iPhone and Apple Watch screen in America is a great first step. Everyone should be pleased.
Tell that to New Balance. Their premium made in America sneakers sell well and and are reasonably priced.
The Prius is made in Japan. Made , shipped on a boat , and still costs the 'same' as a Tesla with no long boat trip.
[ This side thread started out as "Made in USA expensive". Any relevant example would need to be a USA made car. Otherwise you are just wandering off into a hand/arm waving swamp. ]
Adding 'options' to a car is relatively dubious because those are more substantially decoupled from labor costs (i.e., where it is made and by whom). That add-on options are usually places where vendors think they can claw some elastic demand out of ( e.g. Apple's. addition RAM or additional storage costs have diddly squat to do with labor costs differences ).
Toyota's USA made cars (sedans) beat Tesla on manufacturing costs. The camary or Corolla (standard power train models ). Toyota has mutated the Prius into a "sporty car for younger folks" product. It is not what it originally started out 'eco focused' car. Honda probably makes more USA cars than Tesla or Toyota.
design ≠ 'made'. If someone is 'put the things together' then that is more about 'making' than 'designing'. TSMC absolutely manufacturers (makes) A17 chip dies.
There is decent chance that Apple has modified a Samsung design so that it tweaked toward Apple's preferences. Can't really 100% decoupled the design from the fab (manufacture) process. If Apple has selected Samsung Fabs they have been looped into the design process along to way to some extent.
P.S. from the first article in the thread
" ... his manufacturing process has not previously been deployed at a commercial scale. Sources familiar with the matter said that the sensors are to be supplied by Samsung's System LSI division and mass-produced by its foundry division. ..."
Samsung System LSI division is the 'logic design' part of Samsung. Typically works closely with the Foundry division (which produces the wafers with the chip dies on them). If this is being 'supplied' by Samsung then likely hand some contribution to the design. Otherwise Apple would only be talking to the foundry division.
2024 https://petapixel.com/2024/02/14/canon-patents-a-triple-layer-high-speed-stacked-image-sensor/
earlier 2025 https://petapixel.com/2025/07/30/sonys-triple-layer-image-sensor-promises-huge-performance-gains/
( and Sony has discussed this general concept in previous years. This 2025 is more demo of 'product' than working on the concept. )
pretty
from ealier in 2025
it isn't like Apple doing a 'thiple layer' design is revolutionary. Several sensor maker/consumers are doing them. Apple's will have some specific points they want to focus on, but the general notion that Samsung is no clue about design and Apple is telling them everything they need to do is likely overblown.
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What these articles are talking about is a sensor for a camera ( a subcomponent of the camera). There is more than decent chance that the sensors may be made in USA but then shipped out of country to be turned into a camera modules ( lens , focus mechanism, sensor, wire harness, etc. )
The actual sensor dies. Yes.. nobody is handling those by hand in any significant amount.
The discussion was that it's not possible to make things American that can compete with foreign made products. So you want to compare Teslas with another made in America car? Doesn't really make sense. I don't think it makes sense to compare a stripped down base model against another car that has more features. I know when I shop for a car, I would compare cars with equal features when comparing prices. If one had heated seats, then I think the other should have them too, etc.
According to ChatGPT, Toyota net profit per vehicle is $1200 where as Tesla is $9570
And according to Gemini it is 3153 for Toyota vs 3968 for Tesla (who has a higher average selling price). So maybe we should discuss based on facts instead of asking AI.
I don’t see the relevance in debating whether US manufacturing can compete with foreign manufacturing plus outrageous tariffs. Both options will make products more expensive for the average consumer. If US wants to use US manufacturing to increase US wealth, it needs to compete on equal terms.
But a much better option is to not try to.
Because the way to a richer society is to turn blue collars into white collars, raising them up into the middle class, instead of benefitting blue collars which just keeps them in the low income bracket. Not to mention turning white collars into blue collars, which is what Trump seemingly wants to do.
As has been said a thousand times, Trump is trying to create more manufacturing jobs in a society with statistically no unemployment. The issue is not lack of jobs. The issue is people who have two or three jobs, to pay their rent.
Cuesca
macrumors 6502a
What's wrong with being a blue collar worker? Have you ever consider that some people prefer to work with their hands? Your view of a rich society being one where blue collars workers doesn't exist, can't say I agree with that. I have friends who works in machine shops that was able to easily support their families as the sole bread winner.
Also I don't think Trump has the power to demand companies replace their white collars workers with blue. When companies like MS lay off 9000 white collars workers that's them keeping their margins.
racerhomie
macrumors 6502a
Yeah. Obviously only employees will know the details. But designing is what Apple does well. Letting others use their expertise in manufacturing and assembly
If these white collar jobs are all you think they are, then why are all these people who took out student loans and went to college to get a white collar job, asking people with blue collar jobs to pay their loans? Shouldn't they be making so much money they can pay their own?
I had a blue collar plumber quote me on installing a hot water tank, and he was basically asking for $700 per hour. Are there a lot of white collar jobs paying that? What kind of job can you get with a 4 year degree in humanities? Seems a lot of these people are making TikTok videos crying about not being able to get a job and pay their bills.
I think what you have been missing is many of these other countries are not competing on equal terms. They have high tariffs on US products. Trump is trying level the playing field.