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Riot Shuts Down Foxconn Plant, Impact on iPhone 5 Production Unclear

saturn88 said:
In any case, even foreign car manufacturers (Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, etc) can afford American labor costs. And car manufacturing is much more labor intensive then phone manufacturing.
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Cars are a different issue. Import taxes, tranportation per unit cost, storage, distribution are all significant components of localized manufacturing. No Americans would be interested to do small part assembly work at the Chinese pace, live in a dorm, nor for that matter pay $1500 for a disposable gadget. In the US one would have to work with the unions, American coffee breaks would halt production and fat people (the majority) with sausage-sized fingers will sue for being discriminated for not being able to participate. Forget it.
 
paintersforms said:
It wasn't that long ago that most things were made in the US. Prices didn't plummet when manufacturing went overseas. Either labor in China isn't that much cheaper, or profit margins went through the roof.
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Considering the iPhone 5 has 199$ in components :

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1445840/

Manufacturing being 8$ and let's say half of manufacturing costs are employee wages (4$ per iPhone). Foxconn employees make 290$ per month. In the US, at 15$ an hour, 160 hour month, that's 8.2 times the wages.

So let's multiply 4$ by 8.2 times. That's about 33$ instead of 4$. Add in the other 4$ manufacturing, we're at 37$.

So a 16 GB iPhone 5 manufactured in China costs 207$ to Apple, one made in the US would cost 236$.

Why are people claiming 2x, 3x the cost ? 2000$ iPhone ? The way I see it, Apple could just eat that in its margins or at worst, increase the price by 50$ and make even more profit!
 
jrswizzle said:
I don't think the impact would be that great. The American economy would certainly be strengthened if Apple were to do such a move. Hundreds of thousands of jobs added, tons of money poured into American workers.

Plus, just think - if Apple had to actually pay taxes on that $100B they have stashed outside the US.....people complain about Romney's measly millions stashed in a Swiss bank account....PFFT!

Oakley makes their products in the USA - how do their prices compare to other high end sunglasses makers? (maybe a poor analogy but was the first "USA made" company I could think of).
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Not such a bad example - Oakley's founder started Red Digital Camera, who assemble their products (high end electronic and optical equipment) in California, and are investing in a new plant in Nevada. These are prime foxconn style items. So it is possible, and it doesn't have the crushing impact on bottom line that many expect.
 
Foxconn is like a modern day Tyrell Corporation, or Zorg Corp.

But really this messed up. China is ripe for a worker uprising. We are entering interesting times as we watch China go through the growing pains the US did in the early part of the 20 century.

And to those talking about the cost of a US made Iphone - I've read somewhere before that the cost actually wouldn't be much higher. The problem in producing here is the lack of supporting infrustructure of subcomponent and material manufacturers. As well as a lack of engineers.
 
Agreed - but you forgot to include shipping costs. Components will still be made all over the world and to ship them to the US to have the devices assembled will increase costs more than American labor would.

EDIT: This was in response to KnightWRX's post but for some reason it won't let me quote anything.
 
jrswizzle said:
Seriously....

I'd love to see Apple spend some of their $100B+ on bringing their manufacturing back to the US. Of course then they'd have to pay US taxes on that money....

Still, American company - and most valuable in the world - would be awesome to have their products (if not fully) at least mostly made in the USA.
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It will not happen. The salary needed by american people is huge to match the cost of living there. And american culture are not used to work like that. I imagine lawsuits everywhere, whine on simple things everywhere.
 
If you ship a container full of iPhones vs. a container full of iPhone components - same thing.

However, if the parts are still made in China, so is the iPhone - even if it says "Designed in California, assembled in the USA".
Besides, didn't Brazil manufacture iOS devices now?
 
2000 people is a big riot... 2000 out of 79,000 workers though, that's the percentage equivalent of two guys at my office getting in a fist fight. On a Friday afternoon, it'd be a guy tripping and breaking his nose :D
 
jrswizzle said:
Seriously....

I'd love to see Apple spend some of their $100B+ on bringing their manufacturing back to the US. Of course then they'd have to pay US taxes on that money....

Still, American company - and most valuable in the world - would be awesome to have their products (if not fully) at least mostly made in the USA.
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When did Apple fully switch to overseas production? I remember products used to state "Made in the USA" and now "Designed in California". People claim the costs would be prohibitively expensive if made in US dollars, however given the financial situation in the U.S. many experts have attested this would not be the case.

After the reviews of this years iPhone, and the issues with Foxconn and Apple *as well as other tech companies that use Foxconn* I've put a hold on buying electronics from certain manufacturers. This is my first year I didn't (and won't) bother with the new iPhone.

I have to admit, as I grow older and the years go by, even at only 35, I have become more depressed and disheartened at the state of the world. I had such hope in my 20's, but that hope is dashed as I quickly realize humanity is selfish, angry, malicious, greedy and antagonistic - just read some of these threads.
 
jrswizzle said:
Seriously....

I'd love to see Apple spend some of their $100B+ on bringing their manufacturing back to the US. Of course then they'd have to pay US taxes on that money....

Still, American company - and most valuable in the world - would be awesome to have their products (if not fully) at least mostly made in the USA.
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Yeah right. Cause apple is gonna take a hit in profits to make in the usa :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
spartig said:
They are not Apple's workers. They are Foxconn employees. And as I recall Apple did go out of their way to try to get Foxconn employees more pay and better working conditions. How many companies do you know that will go out of their way to make sure another companies employees get treated better?

Not that I think Apple is a saint or anything.
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You're deluded or something... Apple "went out of their way" because the stories of Foxconn's employees making Apple's iToys were jumping out of windows committing suicide...

It's bad PR... You think Apple paid FoxConn more so they money went to the workers? Get real... They're like walmart, squeezing every last cent from their suppliers if they want to keep their business.

Yes, dozens of hi tech companies use Foxconn and other manufacturing partners in China... But only Apple is wildly successful and with that comes being in the spotlight all the time, from all angles, good and bad. Nobody cars that Dell/HP use the same factories. Apple's products are the cream of the crop and they are making billions for themselves and their shareholders off the backs of the poor opressed in China. There's no other way to spin it.
 
jrswizzle said:
Seriously....

I'd love to see Apple spend some of their $100B+ on bringing their manufacturing back to the US. Of course then they'd have to pay US taxes on that money....

Still, American company - and most valuable in the world - would be awesome to have their products (if not fully) at least mostly made in the USA.
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Americans might like to pay a bit more for an American made iPhone by an American company. What do you think the rest of the world (over 50% of Apple's revenue) would think about paying more for a 'made in America' product?

It makes no sense for an international company like Apple to onshore American jobs for primarily non-American consumers.
 
The jobs aren't coming back

"Foxconn's parent company is buying over a million robots to replace workers over the next few years. "

This. Manufacturing jobs aren't coming back to the US, nor will they be staying in China, or anywhere else. The future of repetitive electronics assembly (among other things) is robots.
 
enzo thecat said:
Get ready for $5000 iphones!
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Are you 100% sure about that or are just talking out of the kool-aid daily dosis?

I can see Apple's margin decrease but not much, and if they want to pass it to us the customers, I won't be surprised, that's what they do... have u checked how much they get out of each iPhone? Is a lot. If they are willing to sacrifice "a lot" for "still a lot but less" that could work.

What I am not sure about is how fast they can produce these items...
 
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