mike_galloway

mark fearing said:

I don't think the UK can kill this deal. It's just an opinion (I mean one countries opinion). Since so many other territories have already said it's OK. Not sure what happens next but the EU has not weighed in yet and in the U.S. it's not clear it will be pushed against. 

The law of unintended consequences -  not putting a charger in every product is likely to increase the number of cheap and maybe poor quality products. Although other companies substandard products are not really Apples problem.

randominternetperson said:

sirdir said:

mike1 said:

rundhvid said:

Apple says this supports up to 96kHz, and means users "can enjoy high-fidelity, full-resolution audio."

—except ’s own Hi-Res Lossless in 192 kHz 👀🤭

Soooo???? You're saying they therefore shouldn't have improved it all then?

Probably that you can't call something 'full resolution' if you yourself deliver a much higher resolution. 

The average human can detect sound in the 20Hz to 20 kHZ.  96kHz is way outside the range of human hearing.

simply258 said:

And Tim Apple thought his donation to Trump's campaign would buy him protection from this madness lol

My understanding is that there is a new White House directive about to come out that says if you have a label on your product that "Made in the USA" then the product is exempt from tariffs.

The only hassle appears to be that the label itself must be made in the USA and affixed to the product wherever it is being imported from, before the product enters the USA.

Not sure why Apple makes any products or Appleinsider bothers to write any articles as everyone on these forums appears to be way more knowledgeable than anyone that actually does something.

bloggerblog said:

A Vision Pro could be your personal computer, just like bringing in a laptop or an iPad. Is this only for residents of Germany, are tourists exempt?

I found the following paragraph on VAT in the EU - it’s really for companies but individuals bringing in high value items are treated similarly. 

For the purposes of EU VAT and customs, bringing goods into the EU for the first time, from another non-EU country, is termed an import. Generally, the country of arrival will look to charge its standard VAT rate (e.g. Germany at 19%) on the import transaction. This must be settled prior to the release of the goods from customs. The goods are then in ‘free circulation’ and may be stored and sold or sent to another EU country. 

But if you are a tourist going through Germany to another non EU country then you would probably want a refund of the VAT, which is probably difficult if not impossible and not worth the bother on a single item. It seems likely that you just need to pay up on entry to the EU and forget about any theoretical refund when you leave.

As a tourist It is possible to get a VAT refund on purchases made within the EU, so when The AVP is available in Germany and, for example you are USA citizen on holiday you can get your 19% back and then deal with US customs which don’t have VAT but may apply other taxes and duties which are usually less than EU VAT.

Theoretically as a UK citizen I could go to Germany, buy my AVP get a refund of 19% when I leave and then pay 20% when I come back to the UK as whilst we are no longer in the EU we still have VAT.

UK Travellers bringing in goods to the UK have a £390 personal allowance and exempt from paying VAT (£135 for online shopping). 

Needless to say it's all a bit more complicated than I have suggested - many pitfalls and traps.

libertyandfree said:

 Like I have repeatedly stated on this site and others, . Apple would not be harmed by these tariffs.  It’s amazing how people still do not understand how Trump operates and what his intentions are even after him being president for 4+ years.   Many view him as incompetent or corrupt and greedy but he is just following his America First policies and truly is trying to put America in a better position.  Those suffering from TDS will never see this. 

whump

Kuminga said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

Kuminga said:

Seems like stock market likes the deal for Apple 

it does not. Apple's gains were pre-market open. Trump's announcement was at 12:44 eastern time.

AAPL is down from pre-market gains.

Look again 

I'm not sure why people are using share price to prove a point when it is just mass gut reaction - are things better today (share price up) or worse (share price down. Share price really doesn't predict the future only peoples fears or hopes.

ecarlseen said:

Wow. I spent a lot of time in International logistics and about 12 years in supply chain management for companies that were moving production from Asia to North America (mostly Mexico, but some US), and you did a very good job covering the labor portion of it.

There's more to it: any consumer electronics contain tons of tiny parts (resistors and capacitors, wiring, etc.) that cost virtually nothing, as in a hundredth of a penny or so. Costs don't get added up the supply chain, they get multiplied, so having the price of these parts move significantly from virtually nothing can have a very significant impact. Producing them domestically or even in Mexico adds a lot of cost.

US customs is a complete joke. Parts can fly right through or be arbitrarily held for months. I think people can figure out the details, but this adds a lot of cost.

US regulation swings between inattentive / useless, and capricious / arbitrary. We all know about companies abusing this, but you don't hear as much about regulators deciding suddenly one day they're going to interpret a rule differently and make an example out of somebody: usually a smaller business that can't fight back. And a company somebody spent years or decades building is just gone because a bureaucrat had a whim.

I could go on and on, but it's a tough problem. Thinking they could move the supply chain back to the US in three years is hilarious. 15 years would be reasonable.

The article is spot on.

As an electronics designer I have been in manufacturing since the 1980s - but only small companies where at least you do get to see the entire operation.

Working with the Taiwanese and Chinese is a revelation to that of people in our own country (UK)

The exceptionally poor work ethic here (and maybe the USA) is why manufacturing will never come back without a major change in education and expectation. 

It will take more than a generation to achieve.