Trump still wants Apple to build your iPhone in the US, not India, and this won't end well

Date:
Thu, 15 May 2025 19:35:59 +0000

Description:
The economics of manufacturing iPhones in the US don't add up, and that situation is unlikely to change, even as Trump pushes for it.

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During this month's earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook talked about how most
of the iPhones sold in the US are being built in India, which, considering
the lower US tariffs on that country, may have protected the popular handset from a price jump here in the US. It sounded, in a way, like, between the Trump Administration giving Apple a pass on current tariffs , the steady
shift of manufacturing away from China to India and Vietnam, and the promise to invest $500 billion in US manufacturing for chips and servers, Apple was
on the right side of the US vs. the World trade war.

Not so fast. President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that he "had a little problem with Tim Cook," and in fact does not want him to build iPhones in India. According to CNBC , Trump recalled, "I said to him, my friend, I treated you very good. Youre coming here with $500 billion, but now I hear youre building all over India. I dont want you building in India, adding later, "...we want you to build here."

Yep, Trump, it seems, is being insistent on bringing manufacturing of all kinds back to the US and doing so through a combination of exorbitant tariffs (and tariff feints he put a 90-day pause on China's 145% tariff) and pressuring US companies to do so. It's happening but not the way he wants it

On the eve of Trump's tariff fusillade, I wrote how building the iPhone in
the US doesn't make sense . Like any tech gadget, the iPhone is composed of hundreds of components, often built around the world. The iPhones are only assembled in China, India, and Vietnam.

In some ways, Apple is bringing iPhone manufacturing back to the US in that some iPhone components may be built in those new factories, and Apple Intelligence, though not a physical product, could live in those servers
being built in Houston.

I worry, though, that that won't satisfy Trump's binary thinking. He clearly does not understand how technology is built or why it has long been built outside the US. Trump believes, for example, that Apple built the iPhone assembly factories in China. But those are Foxconn facilities, and that company also builds the products for companies like Nintendo and Google.

Trump has no sense or does not care that if, through some miracle, every iPhone component is built in the US and the iPhone is also assembled here, it will be more expensive. There is no efficiency gained by all the components being built here. Tim Apple is good but is he that good?

What's more, Apple doesn't have the expertise. It works with partners who build components to its specifications. Apple is not, for instance, a display manufacturer. It's typically sourcing the iPhone 16's Super Retina XDR
display from companies like LG. LG and Samsung are currently the leading display panel manufacturers in the world. They have the skills and the scale to supply Apple. Apple can't suddenly replicate that here in the US.

As I wrote before, whatever factories Apple does build or financially support here will feature cutting-edge automation. So while they will employ thousands, they may not be hiring as many as Trump would've hoped.

I asked Apple for comment. Surely, with Trump name-checking Tim Cook, whom Trump considers a "friend," Apple must have something to say about this. My guess is they won't respond to me, but Cook, according to Trump, promised to up US production, whatever that means.

It might mean Cook will stick with the plan to build more factories in the US and continue the overseas adjustments of iPhone's manufacturing pipeline. Trump is unlikely to take direct action against Apple and will instead bask
in all the Apple facilities' groundbreaking ceremonies, even if none of them are for "iPhone factories." You might also like The iPhone will soon turn 20, but the last thing it needs is an all-glass makeover Apples foldable iPhone tipped to have world-first display that eclipses the Galaxy Z Fold The iPhone 17 could miss out on a long-awaited display upgrade here's why Apple fans
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/trump-still-wants-apple-to-build-your- iphone-in-the-us-not-india-and-this-wont-end-well


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