If you know the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”, you’ll understand my anger and frustration at Apple. For years they’ve “leaked” to the mass media and tech media about how they regretted going all-in on China manufacturing and that yes, they pinky promised that they’d start making iPhones in countries like India and Vietnam moving forward.
And yet try to buy a new iPhone today and you have one option: Made in China. It’s aggravating how brands like Apple throw their hands up and cry that they have no choice—when it was THEIR brand that poured money into building up China’s infrastructure and allowing China to monopolize supply chains and entire manufacturing sectors. Worse, every other brand followed Apple’s lead.
And then you have brands that buck the trend. Samsung is one of them. And now, Nintendo is too.
After months of trying, I finally got my hands on a Nintendo Switch 2. They’re actually getting easier and easier to find. Here are some places you can find them:
- Amazon – Console / Mario Kart Bundle
- Walmart – Console / Mario Kart Bundle
- Gamestop – Console / Mario Kart Bundle
- Abt Electronics – Console / Mario Kart Bundle
- Nintendo – Console / Mario Kart Bundle
You can try other retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Staples, but these are the ones I see restocked most often.
How much of the Nintendo Switch is REALLY made in Vietnam?
This is a question I was dying to figure out. I finally got my own Nintendo Switch 2 and ripped the box open.
Here’s what the label said on the side of the box.
Okay, that’s a great sign. It’s not surprising that the AC adapter would be made in China: thanks to companies like Apple, China monopolizes the supply chains and factories for those.
The main question I wanted to see: what were the parts that were REALLY made in Vietnam? Was Nintendo going to just do the minimum necessary to get around tariffs? Or were they really all-in?
The first thing I checked as the console itself. As expected, Made in Vietnam.
Next, I wanted to check the dock. Happily, that too is made in Vietnam.
Next up, the Joy-Cons. Sure enough, those are made in Vietnam too.
Here’s where I was shocked. Even the plastic Joy-Con grip is being made in Vietnam.
As expected, the one thing in the box, the AC adapter (and probably the USB-C cable too) is made in China.
Overall I was pretty happy and pleasantly surprised. This wasn’t just talk on Nintendo’s part. They really did manage to move a substantial amount of their manufacturing outside of China, when previous consoles have been made entirely in China.
Are all Nintendo Switch 2s Made in Vietnam?
Nintendo has stated that roughly 1/3 of all Switch 2 consoles are being manufactured in Vietnam, with some others made in Cambodia, but most of the rest are still made in China, presumably being dumped on countries around the world that continue to welcome China-made junk to flow into their borders.
Nintendo was originally supposed to start taking pre-orders on April 6, but they delayed this after the US announced tariffs for dozens of countries, including Vietnam and China. Vietnam wisely was one of the first to come to the table to negotiate, and China foolishly decided to fight back.
Will Nintendo Raise its Prices?
Wall Street—who was the main culprit in leading American to its dependence on China—not surprisingly freaked out. Most shareholders of American companies want us to continue to be dependent on China’s slave labor and environmental abuses, as long as we can get cheap stuff.
But you can see the tariffs already doing their work in this case. Nintendo is already stockpiling a lot of inventory from Vietnam, and will likely increase production there as it ramps down production in China. That’s a really good thing. In fact, it was able to keep its launch price at $449.99 ($499.99 with the Mario Kart bundle) because it made the wise choice of diversifying console production outside of China.
If you order one, there’s a decent chance you’ll get one from Vietnam.
Accessories won’t have such an easy time; Nintendo is already increasing the prices of those because so many of them are exclusively made in China. The hope, of course, is that there’ll be more factories around the world who can take on making those.
Conclusion
A few years ago, one couldn’t dream of a major video game console being made anywhere but China. Which means China would monopolize supply chains and—as Apple learned with COVID—would ultimately call the shots and be able to continue to abuse its own people to produce things that Americans would gobble up, enriching the CCP and the PLA in the process.
While tariffs may results in temporary increases in prices, in the long-term the goal is to break China from its stranglehold on technology, courtesy of greedy American corporations. It will be worth it in the long run.
I totally agree with your skepticism of commodities made in China. US corporations gutted our country of secure jobs so that they could make more money, and what do we get? While we do get cheap goods from the Third World, we as Americans are stuck with jobs that feel meaningless and exacerbate the import-based economy that has blighted us since the 1970’s.
I will say though, although China is certainly the primary country monopolizing manufacturing globally, we cannot be okay with cheap manufactured imports coming from any countries outside the US. The only reason our government is focused on China is because of their leadership in BRICS, not because of its cheap labor being used to produced manufactured goods (they are clearly okay with this in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, etc.) Americans shouldn’t be against BRICS despite what Trump or Biden says, it’s actually in our best interest to join an organization like this. It has clearly had an effect on devaluing the dollar, which is essential for bringing manufacturing back to this country. The US can’t have the global reserve currency and be able to produce all its necessities domestically, there is a reverse correlation between these things.
I just don’t think that we should solely focus on ending imports from China, but imports from all countries unless the import in question won’t harm American jobs. This sole focus on China is clearly the US political and economic elite trying to move their cheap manufacturing hub from one third world country to another, which is only going to continue the predicament we are in. I do appreciate the emphasis you put on where our imports are coming from though, this is something that Americans should care more about.
Thanks for your comment. It’s rare to see comments that are thoughtful and not simply spam or trolls.
My main focus for this blog has always been to focus on educating people how their purchases enable the human rights abuses of the CCP.
But from a macroeconomic level, I agree with you. America will not survive if it continues to be unable to produce its own goods and not be reliant on other countries. We should have learned that lesson with PPE during COVID. We should have learned that lesson with rare earth minerals. But our idiot politicians and corporate executives only look to the next election and the next quarterly earnings.
I hope that robotics and AI, coupled with the tariffs, will reshore at least some manufacturing. But my observation right now is that most corporate executives are simply opting to pay the penalties and to continue to outsource to whatever Triangle Shirtfactories they can find. But let’s pray that there are some corporate executives out there who still get it.