Most iPhones are assembled in China, contributing to a huge trade surplus with the United States in recent years. But a detailed case study estimates that in 2009, the value added in China amounted to less than 4 percent of the total manufacturing cost.In other words, iPhones are not really made in China, even though their final assembly takes place there. The cost of components imported from Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United States and other countries far exceeded the value added in China. Measured in these terms, rather than final sales, China’s apparent trade surplus in iPhones is actually a deficit. Rather than exporting iPhones, China simply represents a particularly visible part of Apple’s global supply chain.
