Unfortunately we can’t be sure of the exact cost. However, these recent clues offer some interesting bounds and observations[3]:
Manufacturing costs for the iPhone are likely to be much higher than comparable devices. This is partly because of the design of the product and partly because of the quality testing needed.
Those costs are likely to range between $12.5 and $30 per unit.
The iPhone manufacturing costs are likely to be twice or three times the average.
Labor costs are still a small part of the overall cost structure at between 2% and 5% of sales price.
The high level (141 steps) of human interaction in the process could be automated however, the fact that it isn’t implies that the cost of automation would be higher and the flexibility of the automated process would be lower. It’s much more likely that the process is a mixture of labor and robot intensive sub-processes.
Even if we assume a $30 manufacturing cost, there is still $60 that needs to be allocated to transportation and warranty expense. These require sanity checks as well.
You need to use some common sense. Here’s an article on the topic from Forbes:
All of that is assuming an equal playing ground of the SAME MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT, Central_va. Now, try moving all of that manufacturing environment lock-stock-and-barrel over here, and compare manufacturing costs. You'd be adding several hundred dollars per unit, guaranteed. These comparisons are talking solely about ASSEMBLY costs. . . not the costs inherent in all the manufacturing of all the parts that go into a phone. There are hundreds of components in a typical cellular phone. They are NOT all manufactured at one plant but are manufactured, milled, smelted, forged, rolled, printed, etc. at multiple plants from multiple locations. Many of them are located around the assembly plant, but others do come from as far away as Corning glass in the United States. . . or chip foundries in Korea and the US. However all of these have to come together in a complicated dance of "Just In Time Inventory Control", a technique while not developed by Apple, it was perfected by Apple for its manufacturing systems under Tim Cook's guidance as Chief Operating Officer back in the early 2000s. The infrastructure for all of this exists where it now is. . . not here in the US. It would all have to be re-created.
The things you are quoting are GUESSTIMATES by people who do not MANUFACTURE PHONES. . . they assemble a list of components they find after doing a tear down and then guess what the rest of the costs might be. It is not accurate at all. "Unfortunately we can’t be sure of the exact cost." Take that sentence to the bank.
Apple PAID for much of the assembly lines at the FoxConn lines that assemble Apple products. They were designed to Apple's specifications. To rebuild them here would require re-amortization of what is now already paid for.
Let's assume for the moment that the $30 per unit labor cost is anywhere near correct. . . and we move assembly to the United States, and assume all things also are equal, except factory wages, then wages plus benefits are FIVE to TEN TIMES higher. That adds $120 to $270 to the cost of each iPhone or iPad. Add markup, and the product becomes economically unsaleable. It would be Completely non-competitive. Apple would have to price it so high it could not compete.
OR, you simply wipe out the profit on each item to pay for the labor.
No, Central, it is not a viable choice in today's economic environment.