Your “Made in USA” iPhone dream is materializing… one component at a time
There’s a lot of things that we’re doing in the United States, and a lot that we can do, frankly.
Tim Cook, September 12, 2025
According to both Apple’s CEO and Corning CEO and Chairman Wendell Weeks, that was not an easy move to do for iPhone and Apple Watch glass, as “some volume” was already being built in Kentucky prior to the two’s decision to take their alliance to the next level, but not nearly enough to cover all global sales.
That means that an “extraordinary amount of increased volume” had to be moved to “The Bluegrass State”, where Apple now has an entire Corning factory “100 percent” dedicated to its products. Or rather one component of its products, which is obviously very important, but still far from achieving Donald Trump’s dream of seeing 100 percent of an iPhone made in the USA.
When you look at innovation, when you look at the cost, when you look at the quality, these are all things that are factor into our decisions – this is a great place!
Tim Cook about Apple’s investment in Corning’s Kentucky facility, September 12, 2025
But while Apple pledged a whopping $2.5 billion for this particular investment, the company is committed to spending a far greater $600 billion in total in the US over the next four years on various other ventures, including a major collaboration with TSMC for system-on-a-chip (SoC) manufacturing. Basically, the Cupertino-based tech giant is tackling iPhone production piece by piece, but it’s obviously going to take a long time to move every single piece of the intricate puzzle to the US.
What’s the big deal about Corning anyway?
As hard as Corning’s CEO is trying to make it seem like all of his company’s partners are treated equally, it’s very clear that $2.5 billion has bought Apple a privileged relationship with the industry leader and 175-year (!!!) veteran.
While there’s no objective way to compare the strength of Ceramic Shield 2 and Gorilla Armor 2 right now, Corning and Apple claim that the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 family’s cover glass is about 50 percent stronger than the first Ceramic Shield generation, providing a huge improvement over an already solid level of scratch resistance and better anti-reflection for minimal glare. Pretty impressive stuff… if it proves true in real-life use.
Is there an “unbreakable” iPhone on the horizon?
Despite using state-of-the-art Ceramic Shield 2 tech, the iPhone Air is definitely not unbreakable. | Image Credit — Apple
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