It seems not all of Apple’s slinky new iMacs are made in China. Apple Insider is reporting that some of the new standard-spec iMacs are labelled as “Assembled in USA”.
US assembly is usually reserved for Apple’s made-to-order machines. But already a handful of standard 21.5-inch iMacs have been spotted labelled as American born-n-bred. In fact, Fortune suggests that these 21.5-inch iMacs are some of the first known examples of an Apple computer being assembled in the US, custom builds aside.
This doesn’t, of course, suggest that Apple is planning to transfer its assembly business from China to the States. Instead, it’s probably a case of American production lines helping ease the manufacturing burden in the East, in an attempt to bolster supplies of the computer which took an age to arrive.
While the FTC dictates what’s meant by “Assembled in USA”, it’s not entirely clear how much assembly of these iMacs was performed in the US. Nor is it clear — to briefly play devils’s advocate — whether the result is a superior product. Would you prefer your Mac was made in the US? [Apple Insider]