With the trump tariffs I feel iPhones will be made elsewhere in the Rim.
You think $3.15 per hour is low? Think $140 or $80 per MONTH in Cambodia and Myanmar.
The fabric mills are still spitting out the material in China but most of the rag trade is leaving for greener pastures. Low cost labor countries are constantly seeking new companies to come to their shores. Labor costs are low because the cost of living for their citizens are quite modest. So the people are happy to have the jobs which afford them a better standard of living than they would have back on the rural farm.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp
https://theaseanpost.com/article/minimum-wage-across-southeast-asia
Most of those trendy threads are assembled in South Central Asia or Southeast Asia because the labor costs are extremely low.
Some of the suburbs of Hanoi could be called "Samsung City" or "LG City" because of all the phones being assembled there. The parts are largely of Chines origin but final assembly, testing and packaging are done in Vietnam.
Prices aren't going down for name brand clothing and shoes in America, but the companies continue to search for the lowest cost assembly.
India, Vietnam, Myanmar. It's all about the cost of labor for these unskilled jobs which are not location dependent.
The should be made here. If you don’t agree then you are a Free Traitor.
Jack Welch once horrified people by half-seriously saying GE should build factories on big ships and just pull into harbor at whichever country had the cheapest labor at the time. The truth is not so much different for some manufacturing operations which are not capital-intense. For instance, garments. A factory full of sewing machines can be moved over a weekend.