Apple never said they were bringing that cash back. They still have never said that. I've read every PR piece they've put out about this, and everything Cook has said about it - not once have they said they're bringing that pile of cash back.

They said they would invest $N hundred billion in the US over N years. That almost entirely consists of payments to US suppliers / manufacturers, which comes out of operational cash flow; along with employee base expansion.

Who knows how much of the cash they'll repatriate, or when. They might not have even decided on that yet, the ink is still fresh on the tax changes.