OpEd: Why you can't make a Trump phone in the US (yet)
www.computerworld.com

... You can't make an iPhone in the US either.

A frisson of Trump-related news fizzled out in the last week. No, not a temporary outbreak of peace in the Middle East, but news of a smartphone originally announced as being made in America. Except, since making that claim, the Trump organization has changed to somewhat more ambiguous claims.

Which raises the question, why can't you make a mass market phone in the US?

To get into this, it's important to think about what is required when making a phone.

First, you need a design; secondly, you need components; third, you need an operating system; fourth, you require highly skilled labor to build the devices; and finally, you need a factory and distribution network big enough to handle manufacturing, logistics, and supply. Assembling the logistics of smartphone supply takes a lot of time and a lot of money. Pulling all these pieces together is a lot more complex than making a pencil -- and that's complicated enough, as the classic text by Leonard E. Read explains.
To be honest, it's complicated

That's not to say it's completely impossible. There is one device " Purism's Liberty smartphone " that claims to be made in the US. The hangup is that the device costs $2,000, has limited specifications, and can only be produced in small quantities. It's not completely made in the USA, either, since many of its components are made outside the US.

That's unlikely to change without major investment in component manufacturing plants, the cost of which could be prohibitive when you look at the fast pace with which those components might need to be upgraded or replaced as technology advances.

This is even before you consider the risk of ...