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News: Trump: May make iPhones twice as expensive?
Member Since: 5/12/2012
Posts: 7,989
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Trump: May make iPhones twice as expensive?
Don't know if this was already posted, but...
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Originally posted by CNN
Donald Trump's plan to "make America great again" may include getting you to fork over a whole lot more money for your next iPhone.
After all, that would be the logical progression from the Republican presidential frontrunner's latest bold (crazy?) promise: Getting Apple to start manufacturing its products in the US instead of China.
Donald Trump made yet another bold promise -- this time about Apple.
"We're going to get Apple to build their damn computers and things in this country instead of in other countries," Trump said in a speech on Monday at Liberty University in Virginia.
Trump's rhetoric is designed to appeal to a base of voters who are struggling to find jobs in the US. Apple, the world's most valuable company with a market capitalization of $534 billion, designs its best-selling iPhone, iPad tablets and Mac computers in the US but relies on partners in China and Chinese factory workers to assemble almost all of them (one model of the Mac is made in the US). But how much would it cost to build those "damn things" in the US? Even a rough calculation of the basic costs shows it's an unfeasible option, leading to an iPhone with a potentially jaw-dropping price tag.
To keep things simple, let's just look at the wages of workers tasked with assembling an iPhone. A worker at Chinese manufacturing giant Foxconn gets paid roughly $400 a month before overtime, according to the New York Times.
Now assume Apple goes the economic route and places a manufacturing plant in Wyoming or Georgia, which happen to have the country's lowest minimum wage at $5.15 an hour. Working eight hours a day, five days a week, a US worker would make $824 a month, or more than double the Chinese worker. If Apple were to employ someone in its home state of California, where the minimum wage is $9 an hour, the monthly pay is $1,400, or more than triple the Foxconn worker.
Assume you have a pool of workers skilled enough to handle the task (you don't) and then assume those workers will work for minimum wage (they won't). After awhile, things don't add up.
While there are a number of other factors that go into an iPhone, including the components, shipping, marketing and research and development, doubling the labor costs could significantly hike up the price of an iPhone. The starting price of Apple's marquee iPhone 6S is $650 -- would you be willing to pay for the phone if it was $1,300? Or more?
"Twice as much is conservative," Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Kantar Worldpanel, said about the price hike of an iPhone if it were manufactured in the US.
At another point, Trump proposed a 35 percent tax on products built outside of the US. So at a minimum, that would mean your next iPhone could start at $877.50.
Apple declined to comment on Trump's comments and didn't want to get into the potential math of bringing phone manufacturing back to the US.
Trump's comments ignore the fact that Apple did invest $100 million to manufacture the Mac Pro in the US. It also buys some of its components from US companies, including Intel's chip for its Mac computers. The company said earlier this month that it believes it has created 1.9 million jobs in the US through the creation of the app economy around the iPhone and its other products.
Even Apple, with its $200 billion-plus stockpile of cash, couldn't afford to build a phone in the US at a reasonable price. Making a more expensive, "Made in the USA" product isn't an option, especially as consumers start to wise up about how much they're spending on their phones. Every day, decent, low-cost alternative phones are cropping up.
So chalk it up to another wild, impossible-to-deliver-upon claim by Trump. But that's part of his appeal, right?
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Member Since: 9/4/2012
Posts: 12,421
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TRUMP IS OVER 
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state of California, where the minimum wage is $9 an hour
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it's $10 now, tho
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 16,214
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Member Since: 8/17/2013
Posts: 19,066
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Obviously something made in America will cost more due to labor costs. However, I think double is an exaggeration. Any company will keep their prices close to what a consumer can afford.
Lol, and since when have Apple addicts ever cared about prices?
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Member Since: 5/12/2012
Posts: 7,989
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Originally posted by XIAN
TRUMP IS OVER
it's $10 now, tho |
So, $1,600 a month with CNN's math, which is four times as much as it is now for Apple.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 3,968
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueTimberwolf
Obviously something made in America will cost more due to labor costs. However, I think double is an exaggeration. Any company will keep their prices close to what a consumer can afford.
Lol, and since when have Apple addicts ever cared about prices?
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"Twice as much is conservative," Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Kantar Worldpanel, said about the price hike of an iPhone if it were manufactured in the US.
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Member Since: 3/18/2012
Posts: 15,751
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welp, hello Samsung/HTC/Android
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 25,037
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Phones in the US are cheap as **** compared to western europe tho 
Make em suffer like us Trump!!
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Member Since: 9/11/2011
Posts: 6,140
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Quote:
Originally posted by XIAN
TRUMP IS OVER
it's $10 now, tho |
but he's literally about to be the GOP candidate
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Member Since: 4/28/2012
Posts: 37,654
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Trump wyd
He wishes he had that kind of power
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Member Since: 10/17/2011
Posts: 8,965
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Android then >>
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Member Since: 1/20/2012
Posts: 27,830
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Do it. Samsung its rise is coming 
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Member Since: 4/3/2014
Posts: 3,847
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Quote:
Originally posted by RomanNavy
Phones in the US are cheap as **** compared to western europe tho
Make em suffer like us Trump!! |
This  For the first time in my life I actually agree with Trump. Make them pay
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Member Since: 5/12/2012
Posts: 7,989
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Originally posted by RomanNavy
Phones in the US are cheap as **** compared to western europe tho
Make em suffer like us Trump!! |
That's because we get locked into contracts which cover part of the cost, which aren't as common in western Europe. So, if we want to upgrade our phone, we have to pay hundreds out of pocket to buy a new phone that also costs hundreds of dollars. If you want to buy it unlocked, you have the option, but then you have to pay a ton more.
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Member Since: 8/17/2013
Posts: 19,066
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Originally posted by keepitundercover
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And even if they become super expensive, another cheaper good and company will fill the void. That's how the free market works.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 3,968
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anyways...how would even go about making apple assemble their phones in the US?
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Member Since: 1/3/2014
Posts: 3,459
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Would he really have control over these types of things though? How can he force Apple to completely move everything?
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 25,037
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bloo
That's because we get locked into contracts which cover part of the cost, which aren't as common in western Europe. So, if we want to upgrade our phone, we have to pay hundreds out of pocket to buy a new phone that also costs hundreds of dollars. If you want to buy it unlocked, you have the option, but then you have to pay a ton more.
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That ain't true tho..
Everything u said definitely goes for the majority of mobile phone users in Europe as well
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Member Since: 3/22/2012
Posts: 40,939
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Member Since: 5/12/2012
Posts: 7,989
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Quote:
Originally posted by RomanNavy
That ain't true tho..
Everything u said definitely goes for the majority of mobile phone users in Europe as well
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So, are you saying that it's not just western Europe? I knew Europe is different in general in how mobile phones are handled, but you specified western Europe so I didn't know off the top of my head if what I said was more in tune with western Europe specifically or Europe as a whole. I'm just wanting to know for future reference.
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