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Comment by nabla9 | Hacker News Reader

> “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China”.

More accurately: "Designed by Apple in California. Components from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, USA and China. Assembled in China."

If you count the value added in China, only $8.50 of the cost of iPhone comes from China. Chinese import components to assemble iPhone.

Slapping $160 tariff to iPhone assembled in China is indirect tariff to the US allies in the region and even to the US itself. Foxconn can move their iPhone assembly to Vietnam but it takes time.

http://theconversation.com/we-estimate-china-only-makes-8-46...

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iPhones are made in special export zones, so technically their components or machinery used to make them aren’t even imported into China. Because none of its inputs were tariffed, iPhones face tariffs when they are imported into China even though they were made in China.

If Trump decides to tariff iPhones anyways, well, double hilarity will ensue.

The $160 tariff is a tax on Apple basically. There is no way they will pass that on to consumers with current products. You may see an increase in new products but that will only work if the financing product they offer remains attractive. Basically few people can afford a $1k iPhone in cash so they need to pay for it over time. Does $1k matter vs $1200? Not specifically no.

Thanks for the link. Indeed this might be a tariff on Apple indirectly. When US Companies were moving everything to China, hopefully they had a plan on how to react if China goes south? Perhaps someone at Apple management knows?

why I just ask someone to repair my iPhone screen, it would cost me $50 to $100? should not less than $8.50 as that actually assembly the whole phone.

1) Assembly and repair are completely different tasks.

2) You're paying for repair in different country with different wages.

3) Economies of scale. How many identical phones with identical problems are you bringing in to be repaired using identical steps? One million or just one?

You provide some reasonable explanation, but that still overlooked the value for China's manufacture provided. For the folks of supporting Made in USA, do you think they would accept the price tag that assembly whole iPhone would just charge less than $10?

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