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I left this comment on the last thread about how it would be impossible to build the iPhone in the USA. In and around 2004-2005, Nokia had the largest cell pho

I left this comment on the last thread about how it would be impossible to build the iPhone in the USA. In and around 2004-2005, Nokia had the largest cell phone manufacturing plant in the world located in the Alliance Free Trade Zone in Ft.Worth, TX. They manufactured millions of phones out of that location. There is no reason why the iPhone can't be manufactured in the USA. Foxconn is looking to replace most of it's employees across all the products they manufacture. Will labor really matter in the next 10 years at the pace of automation? People continue to call the supply chain into question, well where are most of the parts coming from? Here is a list of countries that provide the parts. As you can see sourcing is not a problem since China has to source these parts also. https://www.quora.com/Where-is-the-iPhone-originally-made https://www.quora.com/Where-is-the-iPhone-originally-made This article is more opinion than fact.

arcticbull 8y ago
I guess my gut feeling is that if there's no labor involved, what does it matter where the phone is manufactured? No jobs are created, and the wealth flows to the owning corporation one way or the other.
- peteretep 8y ago
  > if there's no labor involved There will never be _no_ labour involved. As automation increases, there will be a smaller number of higher-paid positions, and those are definitely worth having in your country.
  - arcticbull 8y ago
    Immaterial quantities of labor, the real work is in the design and implementation of the systems and those are the jobs we should want. Assembly workers should be retrained or given basic income imo. Then products should be built where it’s most efficient - and if that means centralizing in one or two countries, that’s just fine.