President Donald Trump is considering a new round of tariffs specially for the iPhone’s. The proposed tax could be anywhere between 10% to 35%. Which means that the basic iPhone XS model in the United States could rise by US$350.
Apple will eventually pass this additional bill to its consumer, making the iPhone even more expensive.
Tim Cook stated that the United States don’t have the state-of-the-art facilities like manufacturing hubs in China. Cook added that you can fill a room with skilled labours in US, but in China you could fill a football field.
The Apple iPhone at present is assembled in China by Foxconn, a Taiwanese company. The iPhone parts are made all around the world and finally shipped to China for assembly.
Memory chips come from Japan’s Toshiba, sensors from Germany’s Bosch and display modules from Samsung South Korea. The Face ID laser scanners, analog devices for touch display and glass for iPhone screens are made in the United States.
Another round of tariffs would hurt not just Apple but also the supply chain for the production. Tim Cook maintained that the design and bulk research for iPhones takes place in the United States.
Manufacturing the iPhone in the United States would be even expensive than proposed tariffs.
Apple does not need to get the manufacturing of the iPhone back home. It can consider other nations such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia or India to go around the tariffs.