Entirely wrong : that's not Apple doing that, and, having spent years as an engineer at Apple, it's a huge priority to be ethical and good. i'm serious.

Why not move elsewhere? The only factories able to produce the required volumes are, by virtue of great planning by China, there, and perform work on a contract basis for many companies, Apple included, Dell, and so on.

I realize it's a complicated subject, but if ethics was as high a priority as you were saying why wouldn't they simply move those jobs somewhere else with lower margins?

EDIT: Since you edited your comment instead of responding to mine, yes China is the only country that can currently support Apple's manufacturing needs. But if Apple actually felt it was unethical to work with China for whatever reason they could begin the process to have factories set up elsewhere, even in the United States or Mexico, within a few years. It would obviously impact their profit margins, but you are arguing that ethics is a "huge priority" while providing nothing substantive to back up that claim.

Not sure why, but it wouldn't let me reply to your post earlier. (?). Now it does. Apple has been building Mac Pros in a factory in Texas; i'm not aware what is produced where though for a couple years.

All right, rather than discuss Apple potentially moving manufacturing operations overseas, let me ask another question. What are some concrete examples of Apple putting a lot of value in ethics?

> The only factories able to produce the required volumes are, by virtue of great planning by China, there

I take a nuanced view of these things. I understand that in vast swathes of rural China job opportunities like this were until recently the only way to make a decent living for many people (most of my family is Asian, and I have investments there). And I also know that most companies could not in fact replicate that technology.

But Apple is rubbing everyone’s nose in their social virtue. If they really believed what they were saying they could definitely replicate a factory like Foxconn’s in Texas for, say, $100 billion. Dell couldn’t, HP probably couldn’t, but they aren’t telling me how to live my life either.

Beyond that, you could definitely migrate iPhone production to, say, Foxconn’s production facilities in Guadalajara with appropriate production guarantees from Apple and satellite investments from other entities to replicate the PRC supply chain advantages. Not tomorrow, not even in the next few years, but the opportunity to reshore high-tech manufacturing is completely attainable.

That’s a great idea. I had no knowledge of the Guadalajara location.

This.