Every iPhone sold everywhere is manufactured in China. They make 34,000 iOS devices every hour, 24/7. That’s not possible anywhere else.
replyApple is, from a purely practical standpoint, more a Chinese operation than an American one.
They could manufacture them in China, but not sell the phones there?
replyChina is their second biggest market, I believe.
replyAdditionally, the humans who make all of the iPhones and iPads are Chinese people, subject to Chinese law. Apple has to do exactly what the CCP wants, at least for now. They are desperately trying to ramp up phone production in India, but there is huge expertise at Foxconn that isn’t in India as yet.
If Apple did not sell iPhones to Chinese consumers the Chinese government wouldn't make Apple provide a different icloud. They made that choice, not by manufacturing in China, but by selling there.
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