Where have you been for the last two years? If it was just a matter of margins we wouldn't have world wide shortages of components, production lines shutting down, etc.
Even with massive multibilion investments in fabs all over the place it's going to take years to bring up fab capacity - in the ideal case. And that's just for one component.
Apple doesn't even do manufacturing anyway - they outsource every step of the way. What US alternatives are there to Samsung displays or Foxconn assembly ?
Apple is too high up the chain to bring about this kind of change, best you could probably do is US assembly if you imposed India like tariffs. Not sure how the US consumers would feel about their iPhone jumping in price by 30%.
Systematic destruction of industrial capacity is not fixed in a single year.
Even the outsourcing of capacity to PRC, didn't happen in a single year. It happened slowly motivated by margins, not due to some technical breakthroughs that were happening in PRC.
> Apple doesn't even do manufacturing anyway - they outsource every step of the way.
That's again a conscious choice because of margins. Apple used to manufacture stuff themselves in US.
No one is saying Apple has to make display tech as well. Buying stuff from allies like SK, Japan and Taiwan shouldn't be an issue.
> Not sure how the US consumers would feel about their iPhone jumping in price by 30%.
Last I checked Apple had over 40% margins on their iPhone. If Apple shared the same concerns as their parent country, they wouldn't work to maximize their profits, even if it comes from labour working in inhumane conditions.
The systematic destruction of US industrial capacity has been in chase of profits.
> Not sure how the US consumers would feel about their iPhone jumping in price by 30%.
Apple sells iPhones in Mexico at 30% over the US price and you still see iPhones everywhere, even considering the purchasing power of the average Mexican is about 1/10 of an American.
Mobile Vendor Market Share in Mexico - February 2022
Apple 17.12%
In the US apple is regularly above 50%, not to mention that the US market app store revenue per user should be higher as well. There's a reason Apple has segmented their products where they previously only sold flagship devices.
Not only that - the price increase from the iPhone 8 to the iPhone X, adjusted for inflation, was sightly more than 20% and people still bought iPhones.
It’s both. It is a matter of margins, and it has been that way long enough now that it is also a matter of long-term investment in manufacturing capabilities. Nobody wants to make less money, and they definitely don’t want to make less money over a long period of time. Especially when those who make that decision are legally required to maximize the amount of money they make for their investors.
Even with massive multibilion investments in fabs all over the place it's going to take years to bring up fab capacity - in the ideal case. And that's just for one component.
Apple doesn't even do manufacturing anyway - they outsource every step of the way. What US alternatives are there to Samsung displays or Foxconn assembly ?
Apple is too high up the chain to bring about this kind of change, best you could probably do is US assembly if you imposed India like tariffs. Not sure how the US consumers would feel about their iPhone jumping in price by 30%.