Re:Manufacturing costs also fall (Score 1)

Agreed. Apple should be net benefit from my calculations in real $$. A current IPhone is manufactured in China with components sourced semi-internationally (mostly china I -- assume--.). As the USD rises, the net USD revenues per phone drop, but the total cost to manufacture stays the same (unless they sign their agreements tagged to the USD with their factories). Only costs incurred in USD would rise relative to the overseas sales price, given that this is an iPhone, and its 'engineered' in the US, this is likely an insignificant portion of the individual phone costs. My guess is that patent licensing poses a bigger $ value per phone. However, since the USD is stronger, any ability to purchase phones for USD priced countries would result in an increase in revenues. Ultimately, as a net importer, a strong USD should be better than a weak USD. It does open them to more competition from non-USD involved smartphone makers, as their total costs would be lower in the US market as a result, but given their recent financial results, its pretty hard to believe that they aren't more than offsetting a decline in overall revenue with an increase in overall margin. And margin is what matters.