Future iPhone models could be manufactured in America as Apple ask suppliers to consider moving to the US
One of Apple’s main manufacturing partners, Foxconn, is apparently considering moving a number of production facilities to the United States as reported by Japanese website, Nikkei Asian Review, following discussions with Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook in June.
The report claims Apple asked both Foxconn and rival supplier Pegatron to consider manufacturing the iPhone outside of China, with only Foxconn willing to consider the proposal with the idea of inevitably higher production costs in the United States compared to China bringing a damper to Tim Cook’s invitation.
“Apple asked both Foxconn and Pegatron, the two iPhone assemblers, in June to look into making iPhones in the U.S.,” a source said. “Foxconn complied, while Pegatron declined to formulate such a plan due to cost concerns.”
In an interview, Tim Cook has previously shared his love for the “skill” of Chinese production, adding that increased Apple production costs aren’t holding Apple back from moving facilities over to the US.
China put an enormous focus on manufacturing. In what we would call, you and I would call vocational kind of skills. The U.S., over time, began to stop having as many vocational kind of skills. I mean, you can take every tool and die maker in the United States and probably put them in a room that we’re currently sitting in. In China, you would have to have multiple football fields.