As I understand it, the majority of individual smartphone components would be manufactured using automation, and the primary step that takes place in Shenzhen is someone physically putting all the pieces together. I couldn't make an informed comment on the feasibility or cost effectiveness of trying to automate this process as well (I'd guess it's fairly low due to the relative uniqueness of each phone model) but maybe someone else can.

And Tesla is well behind the major car manufacturers in using automation.

the car/tesla analogy was a mistake as it's secondary and evidently not true, but too late to edit the comment. thanks for sharing about smartphone manufacturing. it seems like foxconn is already moving toward this, though naturally slower than projected: https://qz.com/1312079/iphone-maker-foxconn-is-churning-out-...

can you recommend any sources for learning more about the state of automated CE/smartphone manufacturing, or this based on personal experience?

“Yes, excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake,” Musk said via Twitter a few months ago. “To be precise, my mistake. Humans are underrated.”

Wow. Look at Tesla go!

Why hasn't any other auto manufacturer thought of this?!

The other auto makers are too busy rolling around in their billions in profit.

Tesla doesn't have this problem you see.

Haha. Yes. That they really don't. Good point