Investment Newsletter July 2018
Where is an iPhone made? It may seem like an odd question to ask in an investment newsletter, but at a time when investors are worrying about a trade war between the US and China it is perhaps useful to understand. Unfortunately, this apparently simple question does not have a simple answer!
Mike Deverell Investment Manager
Equilibrium Investment Management
Processor – Taiwan Gyroscope – Switzerland Accelerometer – Germany Screen – made by a US company, using factories in: Brazil Malaysia Turkey And 23 other countries…
Apple is of course an American firm, listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange and headquartered in California.
An iPhone therefore comes from multiple places, but the final assembly takes place in China.
However, an iPhone is made up of a variety of different components, most of which are not made by Apple themselves. Below is a non-exhaustive list of some of the main components and where they originate from:
The US has a massive trade deficit of around $370bn with China, something that Donald Trump keeps complaining about. However, the iPhone 7 alone accounts for $15.7bn of that deficit.
Battery – South Korea (made by Samsung) Camera – Japan (Sony)
As President, Trump is understandably keen to protect US jobs and the American economy against
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