• WolvenSpectre ( WolvenSpectre@lemmy.ca ) 
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      2 days ago

      Samsung is partially made in South Korea for some models, but during the Globalization push and Apple made most of the parts and skilled labour in China the vast majority of phones or their components come from there.

      Apple tried to make a specialty “Made in America” version of their phones for patriotic Americans and those who wanted to buy phones that weren’t produced in an authoritarian country. They designed it and as per usual they went out to order the custom size screws. Manufacturer after manufacturer looked at the contract and said no. Then they finally got to one and asked them out of frustration about why he said no. To paraphrase they answered “You. When you moved your manufacturing over to China and the Chinese manufacturers started to set up custom screws their production lines had to be able to make any screw at any length. Then when they weren’t selling production to you, they were selling quality screws cheaper to America, so the only way we could compete is to make dedicated production lines that crank out large amounts of products that are common and high quality or very affordable. That means machines that produce exactly one standard screw. Now if you are willing to fund additional floorspace, and custom screw machinery, and training for the operators like you did when you produced in China and are willing to wait for about 5 years to get it up to full production at American Wages, the answer is No.” and they kept hearing that so they had to go to the government that they promised to make the phones to and explained that they couldn’t do it without China, so they were let off.

      Everything that they were using that wasn’t American was South Korean, and that wasn’t enough.