I don't think anyone outside Apple has the necessary figures, but I've seen estimates that Apple pays for 17 hours of labor involved in making an iPhone (which I think is a hugely overestimated because come the fuck on, you can tear one down to its basic components and reassemble it in literal minutes if you are skilled). If it is anywhere close to 17 hours of labor they are using the Chinese as living pick and place machines. In a country with $20/hr labor you're going to automate a lot more than in a country with $1/hr labor, so these people that just multiply the labor cost by 20 are idiots. There would be fewer but more skilled jobs in America than in China.

And really supply/demand determines price, so yeah it would cost a hundred (or so) more dollars to build an iPhone in America but that would mostly come out of Apples bottom line (oh no).

e: I think the whole "X would be too expensive if manufactured domestically" meme is mostly a psy-op. Looking at sneakers, Vans used to be manufactured in California and cost $25-50 adjusted for inflations. Now they are manufactured in Vietnam and cost $60-100.

I don't think anyone outside Apple has the necessary figures, but I've seen estimates that Apple pays for 17 hours of labor involved in making an iPhone (which I think is a hugely overestimated because come the fuck on, you can tear one down to its basic components and reassemble it in literal minutes if you are skilled). If it is anywhere close to 17 hours of labor they are using the Chinese as living pick and place machines. In a country with $20/hr labor you're going to automate a lot more than in a country with $1/hr labor, so these people that just multiply the labor cost by 20 are idiots. There would be fewer but more skilled jobs in America than in China.

And really supply/demand determines price, so yeah it would cost a hundred (or so) more dollars to build an iPhone in America but that would mostly come out of Apples bottom line (oh no).