"According to a report by Bloomberg, the labor cost for assembling an iPhone 12 Pro Max is around $10."

https://smallusefultips.com/how-much-money-does-it-take-to-make-an-iphone/

The problem for Apple is that their subcontractors won't be allowed to break the arms and legs of American workers.

And they might have to pay triple the wages. So $20 / phone.

The problem then for Apple customers is that bluecollar Apple assembly-line workers would then be owning late-model iPhones.

The assembly is the easy part though. You could do it at your kitchen table if Apple sold you a kit with the parts Ikea-style. Don't read too much into it. Making parts like the CPU or screen or what is much harder.

The fixation on assembly is a leftover from a time when things were made from much simpler parts like a pair of jeans made from fabric and buttons. In that case the assembly is a bigger portion of the actual work and bigger portion of skills.

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Yes, but which is performed by robots, who demand the same pay in every country :p