Everybody who has purchased an iPhone or other Apple product has seen the notice on the packaging that the company says its products were designed in California. However, that does not mean that they are manufactured there. It’s not easy to answer the question about where the iPhone was made.
Assembled vs. Manufactured vs.
Two key concepts are important in understanding where Apple makes its products. They sound the same but they are distinct: assembling and manufacture.
Manufacturing refers to the manufacturing of the components that make up the iPhone. Apple sells the iPhone but doesn’t make its components. Apple instead uses global manufacturers to ship individual parts. Manufacturers specialize in a particular item: camera specialists make the lens and camera assembly, screen experts build the display, etc.
Assembling is the process of taking the various components from specialist manufacturers and combining them to create a working iPhone.
Manufacturers of components for the iPhone
There are many components to every iPhone. It’s impossible to list all the manufacturers whose products can be found on the phone. It can also be difficult to identify exactly where these components are manufactured because different companies may make the same component at different factories.
Maritsa Patrinos / Lifewire
These are some of the key suppliers for the iPhone 5S/6S, 6S, and 6S. They also provide information about where they operate.
- Accelerometer: Bosch Sensortech is based in Germany, with offices in the U.S.A, China, South Korea and Japan
- Audio chips CirrusLogic is based in the U.S. and has locations in the U.K. China, South Korea Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.
- Battery: Samsung is based in South Korea and has locations in 80 countries
- Battery: Sunwoda Electronic – based in China
- Camera: Snapdragon, based in the U.S.A with locations in Australia and Brazil, China and India, Indonesia and South Korea.
- Camera: Sony is based in Japan, with locations in dozens more countries
- Qualcomm – Mobile Networking Chips
- AKM Semiconductor: AKM Semiconductor is based in Japan, with offices in the U.S.A, France, England and China.
- Glass screen,Corning is based in the U.S.A. with locations in Australia. Brazil, China. Hong Kong, India. Israel. Italy. Japan. South Korea. Malaysia. Philippines. Russia. Singapore. South Africa. Spain. Taiwan. The Netherlands. Turkey. The U.K. and the United Arab Emirates
- Gyroscope: STMicroelectronics. Based in Switzerland with 35 locations
- Flash memory: Toshiba based in Japan, with offices in more than 50 countries
- Flash memory: Samsung
- LCD screen:Sharp – based in Japan, with locations in 13 other countries
- LCD screen: Lg, based in South Korea and with offices in Poland and China
- A-series processor: Samsung
- A series processor: TSMC is based in Taiwan and has locations in China, Singapore, the U.S.
- Touch ID TSMC
- Touch ID Xintec. Based in Taiwan
- Touchscreen controller: Broadcom based in the U.S.A. with locations in Israel and Greece, the U.K. France, Belgium, France. India, China. Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea.
- Wi Fi chip: Murata ,based the U.S.A. with locations in Japan and Mexico, Canada, China. South Korea. Thailand. Malaysia. Philippines. India. Vietnam. The Netherlands. The U.K., Germany. Hungary. France. It.
The iPhone’s Assemblers
Only two companies receive the components from these companies around the globe to be assembled into iPads, iPhones and iPads. Foxconn and Pegatron are both based in Taiwan.
Foxconn technically refers to the company’s tradename; Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. is the official name of the firm. Foxconn has been Apple’s longest-running supplier in the manufacture of these devices. Foxconn currently manufactures most of Apple’s iPhones at its Shenzen, China location. However, Foxconn also has factories around the globe, including Thailand and Malaysia
