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Ives: Why U.S. Made iPhones is a “Fairy Tale” #shorts Schwab Network https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v07ptdz4X4

His suggestion of $3,500 per phone is the fairy tale.Labor is a small part of the cost of iPhone production

From Perplexity.ai:
The portion of the cost of building an iPhone that is attributed to labor is estimated to be relatively low, generally around 5-10% of the total manufacturing cost. Labor wages for assembly workers, primarily in China through companies like Foxconn, average about $10 per hour, with some variation. The overall labor cost is a small fraction compared to the high cost of components and other expenses involved in production. For example, in the cost breakdown of making an iPhone 15 Pro, the total cost is about $558, and labor represents a minor share of this total.

If iPhone production were moved to the United States, labor costs alone could increase the manufacturing cost by approximately 25%, potentially making labor cost a much larger portion of the overall cost due to the higher U.S. wages. But under current assembly conditions overseas, labor costs stay within that 5-10% range of total production costs.

I don’t know “The Schwab Network” but this author below worked for Wall Street Journal and in China. He explains very clearly how ONLY China and the CCP could lure Apple to China to make its phones there.

It’s not at all about cheap labor, which perhaps was an initial attraction. Simply put - China has nearly the entire supply chain, machining and assembly to make the iPhone. Replicating that elsewhere is nearly impossible.

It was really a partnership between Apple, Chinese local governments, and the CCP. Thus it will be nearly impossible

The author has been on a lot of podcasts. Very enlightening

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-China-Capture-Greatest-Company/dp/1668053373