Thy question is so quaint, it maketh my mind wander to centuries pass’d. That was your intent, right? To ask that question just to point out the complexities of the modern economy?

In the 21st century, nothing (and I mean nothing) is manufactured in a single country. Assembly of an iPhone (in China) costs about $10, but that’s not really manufacturing. The glass screen alone costs more than that, so why not look at where the glass is manufactured (mostly Korea). Maybe look at where the processor is made (Taiwan). Or where the power management system is made (Singapore). But wait! All those parts are made in highly automated factories. The location of the factory doesn’t actually tell you where the profits go, the real profits come from the people who build the automation, mostly American, Japanese and German companies. They are the ones reaping the profits. Look to Kulicke & Soffa, Tokyo Electron Ltd, Applied Materials, Teradyne and Advantest. Each of those companies makes more profit on manufacturing an iPhone than the entirety of China— and they’re all American and Japanese (ok, Advantest is headquartered in Singapore, but most of their operations are in Japan and USA).

If you’re interested in getting the profits from an iPhone, you don’t want the final assembly. You want to be either Apple who gets the profits (the single largest line item in the cost of an iPhone is Apple’s profit margin) or you want to be building the automation. Every year, robots get cheaper and Chinese workers get raises, so building manufacturing automation is where the profits and growth lie.