Imagining a change in the tech landscape isn't that absurd. If there's a vacuum in the market, do you not think there are capable technology startups in the UK that could fill it?
The high-end mobile phone market outside Apple is a shark-infested red ocean to start with. Then there's the fact that even if Apple stopped operating in the UK, you'd still have to compete with them globally.
I cannot foresee a Black Swan event like a random dude from the Midlands becoming the next Steve Jobs, but other than that I don't think it's worth entertaining that there will be a real British contender to the American trillion dollar mastodon.
I don't think a sudden Apple competitor is at all likely to appear either, but not from any country, nothing really significantly making it more or less likely from the USA or UK (or Germany or Canada or ...) IMO.
With the exception I suppose that perhaps it is more likely from China than anywhere, public perception really soured but you could imagine Huawei (or Xioami or whatever) phones could've gotten popular. (They can never seem to get fonts and branding 'right' though? I don't understand why they don't hire 'western' branding consultants, even dirt cheap students, just to get some feedback on the way things look. It wouldn't take much to be able to charge a lot more for the obviously identifiable tat on Amazon (and also all over AliExpress).)
They end up selling themselves and their ideas to the world who then go on to really capitalise on them.
Being generous, Britain is a design hub at best.
No.
Samsung, Huawei and Sony would fill it.
There is no UK company that has the scale to be able to deliver a competing product before those companies absorb all the available market share.
Made in China, obviously, but British labelling and marketing. They lasted a few years before bankruptcy.
I think if apple somehow did exit the UK the replacement would be (a) black market iphones and (b) all the other Android manufacturers.
Unfortunately with Brexit it has become fashionable in certain quarters to 'do-down' the UK's capabilities.
> with Brexit it has become fashionable in certain quarters to 'do-down' the UK's capabilities
It has also certainly become fashionable in other quarters to 'do-up' the UK's capabilities.
I don't deny that the UK has technological clout beyond digital, with excellent universities, a great tradition in science and engineering, and a global hub in London.
But a competitor to Apple? Come on.
The problem with building a mobile firm is that it's extremely expensive capital wise, and difficult.
There has not been an effective new entrant in the market globally in quite some time. It is not "doing the UK down" to suggest that there is no opportunity here for someone who doesn't already do high end phone manufacturing, and it's worth noting that the margins for everyone else in the mobile market are pretty crummy actually.