Trump recently pointed out on his personal online social platform Truth Social that if Apple iPhones cannot be produced in the United States, additional taxes will be levied.At least 25% tariffAnalyst Ming-Chi Kuo shared his view that even if the US government imposes an additional 25% tariff on Apple, it may still not be able to "convince" Apple to move iPhone production back to the United States.
Guo Mingchi pointed out that even though the US market remains an important market for Apple, only a very small number of parts are provided within the United States, and basically all of them come from supply chains outside the United States. Therefore, if the iPhone production line is to be moved back to the United States, it will inevitably increase Apple's cost burden.
In addition, iPhone products are currently assembled and produced in China and India. If Apple wants to produce them in the United States, it must build a huge production line in the United States and hire a large number of American workers. In addition, it must bear the cost of importing key parts from other countries and regions. Even if the assembly and production are completed in the United States, it must bear the shipping costs for shipping to other countries and regions for sale, as well as other fees such as possible increased tariffs, which may eventually lead to the new iPhone having to adjust its price again.
Given Apple's current complex global supply chain and production line structure, it is clear that simply increasing tariffs will not force it to move its production lines back to the United States. Taking various factors into consideration, Apple will naturally not consider moving its production lines back to the United States.
In terms of profitability, it's a better way for Apple to take the hit of a 25% tariff on iPhones sold in the US market than to move iPhone assembly lines back to US.https://t.co/ycTwPmQyEp pic.twitter.com/VPRRpj0caU
- ing 錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 23, 2025
Apple expects to gradually move its current production lines out of China and plans to move most of its production lines to India by 2026. Its partner Foxconn will also invest US$15 billion to expand production facilities in India. However, the new iPhone with advanced design will still remain in China for manufacturing in the short term.
In addition to Apple, other industry players including Samsung have also been asked to move their mobile phone production lines to the United States, but it is uncertain whether these brands will make the same adjustments based on cost considerations.
