Would you pay $3,500 for an iPhone?

And other news this week

Hello everyone, and greetings from beautiful Manhattan Beach, California, a return to the home base after three glorious weeks on the road, exploring old, historic Route 66 and meeting so many amazing folks from all over the world. My fellow travelers came to see the real America, or at least the one they’ve imagined all these years, with big, wide open spaces. And we got to experience it with them.

I’ll have much more to tell you about Rt. 66 and our eight-state, 3 week, 2500 mile journey next week, with the release of the first Photowalks Rt. 66 episode, from Chicago to Springfield and the backroads of Illinois. Just in time for Memorial Day and the official kick-off of Summer Road Trip season.

As always, virtually the entire episode was filmed on an iPhone, the iPhone 16 Pro, with some extra shots provided by my supervising producer, Ruth Stroud, and my trusty GoPro Hero, Insta360 X4 and DJI Mini 4 Pro drone.

But speaking of the iPhone…..how much would you pay for a made-in-America edition? After Apple took steps to move production from China to India and escape the hefty Trump tariffs, the president this week said that wouldn’t cut it. He wants Apple to move production here.

As frankly, it should. I’m with him on this.

“We’re not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves ... we want you to build here,” Trump said.

AI: young woman in Apple store shocked at the higher prices of an iPhone

The respected analyst Dan Ives, who covers Apple for Wedbush Securities, says a made-in-the-USA iPhone would cost $3,500. “We see no chance that iPhone production starts to happen in the US in the near-term given the upside down cost model and Herculean-like supply chain logistics needed for such an initiative.”

Here’s the problem:

As a new book about Apple’s forays into China points out, Apple long ago figured out a way to exploit China with cheaper product costs, labor and a work force that was willing to put in insane hours that would in some extreme cases, require them to live at the factory or work six days a week. The sort of work that people wouldn’t stand for here.

But Apple execs have said for years that it’s not the labor costs that sent it to China for workers, it’s the skills. There are more people who are both willing to endure the hours needed to assemble the iPhone, and have the know-how.

I personally don’t believe that if Apple wanted to build factories here and train people, it couldn’t find a workforce that would do it. Though the more likely solution is they would figure a way to replace the China workforce with robots.

Apple should make iPhones here. I’m sure everyone reading this agrees. But there’s a big but to that outcome.

The company that churns out over 200 million iPhones every year from the overseas factories, more than any other consumer product (think about it) could make some changes, but as Ives notes, it would take years to implement.

And again, we come back to the price. Would you pay the hefty premium for a made-in-the-USA iPhone?

Many of you would say, I’ll just buy a cheaper phone—like a Google Pixel, but guess what—they’re made in China too.

Samsung Galaxy phones are made in Vietnam and India, primarily, and they’re just as pricey as Apple phones now. They will be subject to tariffs too. You’ll be payin more for your new iPhone in the fall, and potentially way more in the coming years. What to do?

Best case scenario: hold onto your old phone longer than usual and treat it with loving care. If the battery is petering out, get it replaced. Phones are lasting longer than they used to—if you have an iPhone 12, 13, 14 or 15 you’ve got a great phone that should last another two to three years, or even longer.

Or look around for great deals on used phones, although be a careful shopper. The Wirecutter section of the New York Times had a great piece this week by one of its reporters who was able to spend company cash on four used phones to see how they differed.

Speaking of Tariffs

The unthinkable happened this week. DJI, the company known for making the best drones in the world, released its latest and greatest, the Mavic Pro 4, a drone reviewers are salivating over.

But the drone isn’t available here, due to the Trump tariffs. It’s for sale all over the world, including Mexico and Canada, where it’s available for around $2,500.

I don’t know how they’re doing it, but US retailers are saying they can get models to you eventually, and are taking orders.

• B&H Photo

• Camrise

Or try your luck with a Canadian retailer, like The Camera Store. Buyer beware: It has a no return policy, and DJI says it won’t honor warranty for products bought from other countries.

Another product you can’t get

Apple announced this week a long-awaited update to the CarPlay navigation/entertainment system offered in most new cars, with new features that also tap into more information visible behind the steering wheel, but only made it available for just one vehicle, a new $250,000 Aston-Martin.

Apple says it will push out the software to other models within the next 12 months.

AIRBNB

Airbnb updated its app this week, by adding way more than just a place to sleep. There’s now also a tab for “Services” the ability to hire gig workers for photo shoots, massages, private chefs, personal trainers and even nails.

This is great for the consumer, but stinks for the gig worker, as Airbnb encourages very low rates to entice business. (They asked me to sign up, with suggested prices of $25 for $50 for photo services.) On the site, I’m seeing private chefs coming to your house to cook for you for $30, a one hour photo session for $50—and folks, I charge a lot more than that. It would be really hard to afford a $3,500 iPhone, let alone a $1,500 one, at those rates.

Hello Maxie

Remember when HBO launched a streaming channel called HBO Max? Then it decided it wasn’t signing up enough new subscribers, and that viewers would be more interested in programming from the Discovery library instead, so the name got chopped down to just Max. And it somehow was able to buy the URL Max.com to showcase its wares.

Well, this week, the bozos than run this multi-billion dollar concern decided that the HBO Max name was good after all, and it was time for yet another rebranding.

I usually get HBO Max when there’s a good show on, then cancel. I loved White Lotus, and I’m suffering through this season of Hacks.

So goodbye Max. Or HBO Max. Or whoever you are!

This week on Photowalks on Scripps News, we’re going on the Bay Area Backroads my late father Jerry used to explore when he hosted a local travel show in the San Francisco area. In an all new edit, I’ve taken three of his episodes from the 1990s, from San Francisco’s North Beach and Chinatown, and Mendocino, and merged some of the old footage with the new, as I traced his footsteps. Photowalks airs on Scripps Sundays at 10 a.m. ET. I hope you’ll tune in. (You can stream Scripps via the app on top platforms like Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and smart TVs from LG, Vizio, Samsung and others.)

Until next week….

Jeff