iPhone production could be shifted to the United States

Apple is considering moving production of its flagship iPhone model of smartphones to the United States, according to a report from the Nikkei Asian Review.

Key supplier Foxconn Technology has been looking into the possibility of making the shift to the US, the Tokyo-based publication said on Friday, citing a source from within the company.

Much focus has centred around American companies' global operations since the election of Donald Trump as president-elect, after the Republican promised to heavily tax businesses which locate their manufacturing divisions abroad.

"Apple asked both Foxconn and Pegatron, the two iPhone assemblers, in June to look into making iPhones in the U.S.," the Nikkei Asian Review reported.

Foxconn is currently based in the Tucheng district on the outskirts of Taipei, and along with other smaller providers, pump out 200m iPhones annually from their factories.

"We're going to get Apple to build their damn computers and things in this country instead of in other countries," Trump said in January of this year as he embarked on a campaign which ended in an unexpected victory.

Trump said that he would tag a 45% tax on goods imported from China, but in the days since his election win, he has cooled on many of the brash policies which characterised his speeches during the last few months.