Report: Apple considers building the iPhone in the U.S.

During the primary season that led up to the recent election of Donald Trump as president, the billionaire real estate developer and reality television star had some rough words for Apple. Besides trying to start a boycott of the company for its failure to unlock a terrorist's iPhone, Trump was upset at the tech titan for building its products overseas. Trump had floated the idea of a 35% tax on imported products made outside of the U.S. A Trump administration, said The Donald, would force Apple "to build their damn computers in this country instead of other countries."

Today, a story in the Nikkei Asian Review cited an anonymous source for its report that Apple is investigating the possibility of manufacturing the iPhone in the states. Apple allegedly spoke with Foxconn and Pegatron, the two contract manufacturers it uses to build its smartphones and tablets. Apple allegedly brought the idea of moving production to the attention of the two companies back in June. That was five months after Trump originally made his comments about Apple's overseas device production, but five months prior to his election.

According to the source, Foxconn agreed to help Apple come up with a plan to move iPhone production to the U.S. Pegatron, on the other hand, refused to get involved because the cost would be prohibitive.

The source told the publication that moving iPhone production to the U.S. would more than double the cost of making the device. One of the problems facing Apple is that not all of the components for the iPhone can be produced in the U.S. The report added that the Taiwan based supply chain believes that Trump will force Apple to make a certain percentage of iPhone components in the states.

source: NikkeiAsianReview via CNET