The Trump administration previously claimed that Apple is contemplating on bringing the iPhone manufacturing right on US soil, but now, the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has revealed more of Tim Cook’s alleged plans for the company’s “reshoring” to the country.
It has been claimed that Apple indeed wants to bring the iPhone’s production to its home country, but it is still waiting on robotic arms for its plants.
However, it is important to note that these are all claims from the US Commerce Secretary as Apple is yet to confirm its plans to reshore iPhone manufacturing to the US from its current operations in China and India.
Apple iPhone US Manufacturing Waits on ‘Robotic Arms’
Lutnick has recently claimed in an interview with CNBC (via Aaron Rupar) that he was informed about Apple’s plans to bring iPhone manufacturing to the United States. However, plans are not yet concrete for now as, according to Lutnick, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that they are still waiting on robotic arms before they start to do so.
According to Lutnick, Cook said that there is a need for these robotic arms before starting the iPhone’s manufacturing on home soil as these machines can do it “at a scale and precision” to create the smartphones.
Cook also allegedly said that he wants to avoid employing foreign workers to manufacture the iPhone in the country.
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No More Human Labor for US iPhone Manufacturing?
It appears, based on Secretary Lutnick’s claims, that Apple’s iPhone manufacturing in the United States would center on machine or robotics processes and pass on human labor.
While Cook said to Lutnick that he wants to avoid employing foreign nationals for labor, the Commerce Secretary also said that American workers would still be present, but they would be the ones controlling the machinery for the iPhone’s creation.
Apple and the Trump Tariffs: Is Reshoring Coming?
Now that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are in effect, Apple is set to face its higher import rates. In fact, it was previously reported that Apple rushed to fly planes full of iPhones from China and India to the US to curb the inevitable.
However, it was revealed that Apple does not want to do this in the long run, which is why Trump believes that Apple can reshore iPhone’s manufacturing to the US in the future. That being said, there are no concrete plans yet on how Apple would do this, and the Cupertino-based tech giant is yet to confirm anything about the return of iPhone manufacturing on the United States.
Should Trump continue with the massive tariffs against imported goods, many companies, including Apple, would have no choice but to reshore their developments, increase prices, or avoid selling in the US altogether.
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