Apple’s $649 iPhone 6 Reportedly Costs $200 to Make

[Luxman]

It would probably cost more than $500 to make the iphones in America.
So using third world slave labor is very profitable.

http://time.com/3426087/apple-iphone-6-cost/

 

[BusterLoads]

That news shouldn't really surprise anyone, but hey more power to Apple if they can convince a mass number of fools to spend over $600 for a phone, only to have them spend another $600 on the same phone in the next year or two.

 

[Supafly]

Apple really outdid themselves with the apple watch. Even though it features some fantastic tech - for me, the diabetes service it provides s a key figure - but the price and the fact it will be outdated and to be re-bought in the same intervalls as the other apple products in the mobile segment make this a genius moneyprinting tool.

If the market is a little packed, create your own. Reminds me of Red Bull.

 

[BusterLoads]

This video is primarily about google glass (something else I find stupid and unnecessary) but a lot of what is said here can be said about pretty much all smart phones.

 

[Rey C.]

Although I was a fan of Steve Jobs and I'm still an Apple shareholder (and had been a fan of the products before Timmy Cook started putting profits before software quality), I'm not here to defend Apple or its profit margins. But on the matter of where the products are made, the story I read years ago was that Jobs attempted to engage American engineering and manufacturing firms to develop certain components for the early iPhone. It may have included assembling the phone here too. I can't remember that part. But anyway, what he found was that the American companies showed up ill prepared, with a small handful of engineers who had half-baked ideas. When he enlisted the Chinese, they showed up with teams of engineers, who were prepared to work around the clock to give Apple exactly what Jobs wanted and they could guarantee yields. Hon Hai Precision/Foxconn Technology and Pegatron have precision, advanced high speed manufacturing techniques that simply are not available in the U.S.

Apple has returned some Mac manufacturing to the U.S. (I think it's the only mass market computer actually built in the U.S.). But even in my industry, we cannot find enough capable people with technical skills. A young person could get an associates degree in some technical field and start out at my company making $40K base and $50K+ without killing himself. Some of the people in manufacturing make $70K+. But what we generally find with the youngsters who apply are giant talking babies who lack skills, education and a basic work ethic. They (somehow) think that their video gaming "skills" apply to what we need. They can rack up points in 1st person shooter games, but they can't copy & paste in Word, can't draw a line in AutoCAD and can't even construct a basic addition formula in Excel. As a group, they are truly pitiful. Those are the males that we see. We see no females. For all the talk about gender pay inequality, NO women have applied for these tech jobs or work in the manufacturing area of my company. There are some lower paid female planners and one drafter (she may make $50K, but she's been around the block a few times and is in her 40's).

China does have a wage advantage. But even more importantly, it has a technical advantage. Many of the jobs at Hon Hai and Pegatron are robotic based. You can't even find enough Americans who can keep a basic robot running at most American firms, much less a high speed, precision manufacturing robotic system.

American kids refuse to take STEM classes and get STEM degrees. So, they're fucked. And by extension, we're all fucked.

 

[D-rock]

I bet Apple is pissed is still pales in comparison of Nike of the 80s and 90s where they could literally sell a pair of shoes in the triple digits in dollars and it cost between $2 and $4 to produce them. I always wondered why Michael Jordan got such a pass from the public for all that while endorsing them. That was when we even sort of cared about companies doing stuff like that.

I read years ago was that Jobs attempted to engage American engineering and manufacturing firms to develop certain components for the early iPhone. It may have included assembling the phone here too. I can't remember that part. But anyway, what he found was that the American companies showed up ill prepared, with a small handful of engineers who had half-baked ideas. When he enlisted the Chinese, they showed up with teams of engineers, who were prepared to work around the clock to give Apple exactly what Jobs wanted and they could guarantee yields. Hon Hai Precision/Foxconn Technology and Pegatron have precision, advanced high speed manufacturing techniques that simply are not available in the U.S.

Then again when we stupidly let so much of our manufacturing move away or disappear and it's been that way for a long time is it any wonder we would now get our asses kicked by the Chinese or that their know how is now much better than ours? It's about the same reason we wouldn't go to Zimbabwe and expect to find a bunch of people that could outdo us in making fighter jets. They don't make them. Maybe if we never let all those jobs and manufacturing go in the first place we would have all those competent engineers now and the willingness of people in our society to want to go into that would be much greater. Or all our smart people wouldn't want to go into something else because they could be competing with someone else in the world that is paid a fraction of what they earn at any time in a world where technology is allowing more an more things to be done half a world away.

Or maybe we should just make jobs that pay well that all people can do instead of needing them to have degrees that only a small percentage of them really need. The sky didn't fall in the 60s when it was like that. We weren't dumb(or at least as dumb), and most people actually had good jobs. Who knows with a lot more people getting much more money maybe a lot more of them would spend for those associate degrees that would help your industry that they can't get easily now.

 

[bobjustbob]

These iPhones aren't just parts and assembly. It takes research and development. Support and systems. They are looking to launch their own satellites. Lots of expensive people to pay to do that stuff.

 

[Rey C.]

I bet Apple is pissed is still pales in comparison of Nike of the 80s and 90s where they could literally sell a pair of shoes in the triple digits in dollars and it cost between $2 and $4 to produce them. I always wondered why Michael Jordan got such a pass from the public for all that while endorsing them. That was when we even sort of cared about companies doing stuff like that.



Then again when we stupidly let so much of our manufacturing move away or disappear and it's been that way for a long time is it any wonder we would now get our asses kicked by the Chinese or that their know how is now much better than ours? It's about the same reason we wouldn't go to Zimbabwe and expect to find a bunch of people that could outdo us in making fighter jets. They don't make them. Maybe if we never let all those jobs and manufacturing go in the first place we would have all those competent engineers now and the willingness of people in our society to want to go into that would be much greater. Or all our smart people wouldn't want to go into something else because they could be competing with someone else in the world that is paid a fraction of what they earn at any time in a world where technology is allowing more an more things to be done half a world away.

Or maybe we should just make jobs that pay well that all people can do instead of needing them to have degrees that only a small percentage of them really need. The sky didn't fall in the 60s when it was like that. We weren't dumb(or at least as dumb), and most people actually had good jobs. Who knows with a lot more people getting much more money maybe a lot more of them would spend for those associate degrees that would help your industry that they can't get easily now.

Although I was speaking more about manufacturing and industrial engineering, engineering is a broad, broad field. And while the demand for computer or software engineering *may* have experienced the greatest increase in demand, as far as I know, the demand for manufacturing and industrial engineering is also quite healthy - especially since the end of the Great Recession.

Hand assembly manufacturing jobs (jobs that most anyone can do) have left the U.S. That is true. There is simply no way to compete on an hourly or $/piece basis with lower wage nations. I was opposed to NAFTA too. But what's done is done. And the kids who now need to be taking STEM courses weren't even born when Clinton signed that bill anyway. They have no excuse for not focusing on STEM related education - other than "it's too hard", "math gives me a headache", "I don't like that teacher", "my ass hurts and I can't sit at a desk for long periods of time", etc. And whether it's women or young people in general, no one is going to beg someone to take certain classes or enter certain fields. The world will not wait for you. There is a heavy demand for engineers in the U.S. And so companies are going outside and finding the talent that they need. When I used to go into Chrysler, I was shocked/amused at the number of Romanians there. Who knew Romania was a hot bed of engineering talent? :dunno: And as most of us know, India is another place that has a pool of engineering talent. In fact, I believe Obama just signed an order or Visa bill which makes it easier for these people to come here and work.

I feel for the people in their 50's and 60's, who got caught out by the recession, the shift in job demand and wage stagnation. But I have zero sympathy for people in their 20's, 30's and maybe early 40's... who now shame the memory and efforts of the Greatest Generation. The people who struggled to make it through the Great Depression and fought & won WWII, they wouldn't wipe their asses with these delicate, fragile, whiny, excuse for every situation, hyper sensitive, "I'm being bullied", "we need to ban words that hurt my feelings", easily offended little pussies. Boys, girls... it doesn't matter - I've never seen such a collection of oxygen thieves. There are some good ones too. Don't get me wrong. But in general, this is the Pussification Generation - no doubt about that.

Sorry. I somewhat got off topic from the OP's iPhone post. But this does feed into it. At best, we may continue to do the heavy lifting for the engineering and design of the iPhone here. But whether it's Apple or Google or any other Silicon Valley firm, if you look at their employees, it looks like a picture of the United Nations. And while that's good, right there are some good paying jobs for American kids... if they could be bothered to put down their "gay-mer" joysticks and take those STEM courses. Otherwise, companies will go out and find what they need. We're engaging an Indian firm to help us. Couldn't find what we needed here, so we're going there.

 

[Red XXX]

I feel for the people in their 50's and 60's, who got caught out by the recession, the shift in job demand and wage stagnation. But I have zero sympathy for people in their 20's, 30's and maybe early 40's... who now shame the memory and efforts of the Greatest Generation. The people who struggled to make it through the Great Depression and fought & won WWII, they wouldn't wipe their asses with these delicate, fragile, whiny, excuse for every situation, hyper sensitive, "I'm being bullied", "we need to ban words that hurt my feelings", easily offended little pussies. Boys, girls... it doesn't matter - I've never seen such a collection of oxygen thieves. There are some good ones too. Don't get me wrong. But in general, this is the Pussification Generation - no doubt about that.

I would if I could ... 'You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Rey C. again.':kiss: