Disclaimer: optimistic wishful thinking ahead I think the scenario is: - China has tons of cheap labour - manual manufacturing in US is expensive - most com

Disclaimer: optimistic wishful thinking ahead I think the scenario is: - China has tons of cheap labour - manual manufacturing in US is expensive - most companies have the problem of over-reliance on Chinese manufacturing - Apple has tons of reserves I see this as an opportunity for Apple to invest in more and more sophisticated mechanization driven by the smarter robotics. It may be difficult for a machine learning algorithm to tell a bird from another but equipment/machines are much more defined than fuzzy. Further, Apple being a sought-after employer in general shouldn't have problem attracting top talent for this exciting and growing area of work (with all its issues, US still attracts the best minds it needs for such research). If they invest and get to a state where they are not only making phones but smart machines that can make machines that make phones or whatever, they will open up a new world for themselves and can solve a problem much bigger than making phones cheaply (while still making phones cheaply).