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President Trump took a shot at Apple’s CEO Tim Cook for moving much of the production of the iconic iPhone from China to India to evade tariffs. But experts paint a more complicated picture. While the iPhones may be assembled largely in China or India, the components of an iPhone represent a veritable Olympic village of countries, which makes the impact of tariffs an especially complicated one for Apple (AAPL). The supply chain for the iPhone spans the globe. According to tech pub Lifewire and research from The Ohio State University, here are some of the key countries where components are made outside of China and India.
Germany
German-based Bosch Sensortec makes the accelerometer in each iPhone. The company describes an accelerometer as a “body sound sensor for sensing bone conducted voice,” and goes on to say, “ The smart function ‘voice enhancement’ filters out distracting noises during phone calls and amplifies your own voice. Easy-to-integrate. Enhanced speech processing. Always-on low-power speech processing.”
Taiwan
The touch ID components of your iPhone, according to LifeWire, are made in Taiwan by TSMC (TSM) and Xintec. TSMC also makes the M and A series processors used in the iPhones. TSMC describes its output:
“In 2024, TSMC served 522 customers and manufactured 11,878 products for various applications covering a variety of end markets including high performance computing, smartphones, the Internet of Things (IoT), automotive, and digital consumer electronics.”
While TSMC is based in Taiwan and does some manufacturing there it, according to its website it also has factories in Japan, Germany, China, and the United States, illustrating the complex international ecosystem supporting the iPhone.
Japan
Components from flash memory to LCD screens to wifi chips are made in Japan by various firms, firms that also have outposts in other countries, creating an alphabet soup of manufacturers.
United States
Corning (GLW) makes the glass that is part of the iPhone.
Jeff Williams, Apple COO, recently toured the Corning-owned glass facility in Kentucky that makes the glass on your iPhone.
“All of that work happened right here in Harrodsburg and Apple owes you a big thank you,” Jeff said, addressing the workers. “ Today every iPhone and iPad that a customer buys anywhere in the world, they touch glass developed right here in the United States.”
Switzerland
The gyroscopes in your iPhone are made in Switzerland (and are neutral). STMicroelectronics (STM) which makes them, describes the gyroscopes this way: “3-axis gyroscopes measure angular rate and are usually combined with an accelerometer in a common package to allow advanced algorithms like sensor fusion (for orientation estimation in 3D space). In that case we call them iNEMO (Inertial Modules) or more generally IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), which can also contain a magnetometer.”