New iMacs Found With “Assembled In USA” Label

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Some of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s new 21.5 inches iMacs are designated with a label that says “Assembled in USA”. At this point, those who purchased iMacs are in hitch over whether the Apple has adopted a new policy of assembling new products in USA, or is it the inaccurate Apple labeling. According to a report from 9to5Mac, a teardown of a new model of the iMac says “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in U.S.A”.

New iMacs Found With “Assembled In USA” Label

Only refurbished and some made to order iMacs are modified in U.S.A., but that is different from assembling the product in the factory. According to U.S. federal trade commission, a product to be labeled as Assembled in USA should-

“A product that includes foreign components may be called ‘Assembled in USA’ without qualification when its principal assembly takes place in the U.S. and the assembly is substantial. For the ‘assembly’ claim to be valid, the product’s last ‘substantial transformation’ also should have occurred in the U.S. That’s why a ‘screwdriver’ assembly in the U.S. of foreign components into a final product at the end of the manufacturing process doesn’t usually qualify for the ‘Assembled in USA’ claim”.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a long history of assembling products in the U.S.A, although it transferred its assembling and manufacturing of its entire computer product to Asia.

The marking has left behind many questions as to whether Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is building some of its iMacs in U.S.A? If yes, then the other question would be whether this percentage of U.S. assembled computer is increasing as many of the first line of i-Macs are coming with Assembled in U.S.A labels.

The FTC gave a specific example of computer manufacture:-

Example: All the major components of a computer, including the motherboard and hard drive, are imported. The computer’s components then are put together in a simple “screwdriver” operation in the U.S., are not substantially transformed under the Customs Standard and must be marked with a foreign country of origin. An “Assembled in U.S.” claim without further qualification is deceptive.

Until 2004; Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) manufactured some of its iMacs in its Elk Grove plant. But then the CEO, Tim Cook outsourced all operations to China. In recent times, there have been some hiring hikes with the employees pay increasing almost by 50 percent. But there have not been any job positions for manufacturing.

Apple has also upgraded its Austin Campus, near where Samsung has a manufacturing unit for A5/6/X processors, but there are few chances of Apple starting manufacturing there. There was no official word from Apple over the news.

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