Back when Donald Trump was campaigning for the Presidency, one of his promises was that if he were to be elected as President, he would get Apple to build their devices in the U.S. instead of outsourcing it to other countries. Now that Trump is scheduled to take over the White House in January, it seems that Apple has begun investigating the feasibility of moving the manufacturing of the iPhones back to the States.
In a report by Nikkei, Apple has asked both Foxconn and Pegatron, two of its key iPhone assemblers, to look into making iPhones in the U.S.. While Foxconn is said to have obliged, Pegatron has decided against doing so due to cost concerns.
While no one is quite sure if Apple is serious about moving iPhone production back to the States, many agree that doing so would cause the iPhone’s price to rise. A source told Nikkei that by moving iPhone manufacturing to the U.S., the cost to produce an iPhone would double. Cost isn’t the only factor in this equation as manpower is equally critical in its production. According to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, the U.S. simply does not have enough skilled workers for the production of iPhones. Additionally, an industry executive told Nikkei that mass production of the device will be difficult in the U.S. thanks to logistical concerns.
Those who are worried that this would affect the pricing of the recently released iPhone 7 need not be too afraid as these devices will still be manufactured in Asia. That said, the upcoming iPhone by Apple may be a different story altogether.
Source: Nikkei