The ongoing tariff war that threatens to bump up the prices of all electronics everywhere is causing Apple to reconsider its manufacturing base and supply chain. And one of the big targets for the USA government is convincing Apple to move iPhone manufacturing to the USA.
While Apple, along with a bunch of other big tech companies, have said they will commit hundreds of billions of dollars to the US tech industry (investments that were going to be made regardless of who’s in government over in the land of the free), getting Apple to make iPhones in the USA would be a massive shift.
And, apparently, replicating the massive manufacturing bases in China are not what Apple needs. All it needs is ‘robotic arms’ according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Once those robotic arms arrive, the back of the iPhone box will be able to proudly sport a “Made in the USA” label alongside the “Designed in Cupertino” tag on every Apple product.
Here’s what Lutnick claims Apple CEO Tim Cook said to him (via CNBC):
“I need to have the robotic arms to do it at a scale and a precision that I can bring it here. And the day that I see that available, it’s coming here because I don’t like to employ all these people, foreign. That’s my biggest risk.”
You can watch the exchange on X.
If that was really the case, there’s nothing stopping Apple for vastly diversifying its manufacturing base and building iPhones in Australia, Canada, Zimbabwe or anywhere else that has space and electricity. Many of the raw materials needed to make iPhones come from other countries. Apple needs rare earth minerals, glass and other materials to create an iPhone. And there’s the need for engineering expertise and modern manufacturing facilities that the USA simply does not have at the scale needed.
But, I guess all those problems go away if you have robotic arms. And American factory workers who are prepared to work for the same wages as Chinese workers.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.