So it’s nice to have Apple report completely positive financials again, with all of Apple’s tech gear showing sales increases. But before I get to the totals, I want to mention a result that surprised me: The iPad, where sales grew for the first time in over four years.

According to Apple, iPad sales reached 11.4 million for the June quarter, up 15% from 10 million last year, and 8.9 million during the March quarter. It’s very much the result of introducing three new models, a mainstream 9.7-inch iPad, plus the two iPad Pros. Analyst estimates weren’t even close.

These results clearly indicate that, by investing in the platform, and adding significant multitasking and file management capabilities to iOS 11, customers will come.

I’ll get back to the iPad in a moment.

Overall sales beat Wall Street expectations, with $45.4 billion in revenue, compared to $42.4 billion last year. iPhone sales increased from 40.4 million in the year-ago quarter to 41 million. So despite the constant speculation about an iPhone 8, it’s clear people are still interested in the iPhone 7.

You’ll want to put these numbers in perspective, because no other mobile handset company does what Apple does with a single product line. According to a USA Today report on Apple’s financials:

For its chief rival [Samsung], a “really good quarter,” is when it sells 10 million of its Galaxy phones,” notes Gene Munster an investor and analyst with Minneapolis-based Loup Ventures.

Although one analyst estimate indicated that Mac sales may have declined in the last quarter, they were actually up slightly, to 4.3 million. It helped that Apple refreshed the lineup in June, during the Worldwide Developers Conference. But most of the quarter may have been about expectations of product refreshes, which may have slowed sales somewhat until the new products actually shipped.

Mac sales may actually show more growth in the current quarter, where back-to-school sales will undoubtedly help. According to Apple, sales this season are off to a great start.

Apple’s huge cash hoard increased to $261.5 billion, and 94% of that number is held overseas. That has to be a sticking point with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, but Apple is just one company with huge cash reserves located outside the borders of this country. But I’ll avoid speculation about possible repatriation proposals for another time.

For the current quarter, Apple is predicting revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion.

During the quarterly call with financial analysts, there was plenty of news to consider.

So educational sales of the iPad were up 30%, despite the competition from those cheap Chromebooks. According to the NPD Group, Apple has a 55% share of the tablet market in the U.S., and eight of the top 10 models are iPads. Believe it or not, Walmart is evidently using iPads for employee training, and such businesses as Bank of America have deployed the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

Nothing was said as to how many iPads are replacing older models. If sales continue to rise, maybe it is also the result of a four-year or five-year replacement cycle.

Once again, services were the shining star in Apple sales, with revenue up 22% to $7.26 billion. A major factor was the App Store, as Apple reports that it outsells Google Play by two times. Consider, also, that Android’s market share is several times that of iOS, so this remains an especially important development.

Just as important is the size of that division. It’s the equivalent of a Fortune 100 company, and sales for the last four quarters totaled $27.804 billion. Remember that number also includes revenue generated by iTunes, iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple Music and AppleCare.

It’s also just ahead of Facebook, the entire company, which reported annual revenue of $27.64 billion for the same period. When you look at that number, you only begin to envision just how large Apple really is.

But what about President Trump’s claims that Apple is going to open three big and beautiful factories? Where does that stand?

The closest we got to a hint about what might be coming, during the conference call, was the statement by CEO Tim Cook about an announcement about new possibilities for employment “later in the year.” Does that signify a new plant, or an expansion of production for the Mac Pro at the same plant that’s building them now? Or is it possible that the iMac Pro will also be built there? That combination will surely mean a decent number of additional employment opportunities.

Or is it something else?

It’s not the proposed Foxconn plant, announced last week, which is supposed to be built in Wisconsin. That facility, if construction plans really go forward, won’t open until 2020. So what’s happening this year?

Bear in mind that Apple doesn’t actually own its own factories in the U.S. It contracts with other companies to build gear. So, in addition to the Mac Pro, A-series processors are fabricated in this country, and don’t forget Corning’s Gorilla Glass.

But even if Apple were to assemble gear at three big and beautiful plants, they may well be built by one of Apple’s manufacturing partners. As a practical matter, it may not matter, so long as more Apple gear is assembled in the U.S.A.

And, with all the good news, Wall Street took notice. In after hours trading, AAPL stock soared more than 6.1%, and the market cap exceeded $800 billion.

But that won’t stop the critics from claiming, yet again, that Apple must suffer real soon now because of all the alleged problems rolling out the so-far announced product, the iPhone 8. Or whatever it’ll be called.

Amid all the chatter about the alleged forthcoming iPhone 8 — the expected 10th anniversary model — is its price. It’s supposed to be way high, more expensive than any other iPhone. Where does Apple have the temerity to raise its prices even further?

I’ll get to pricing for other Apple products in a moment.

But before I touch on the rumored iPhone 8, let me give you the standard disclaimer: There is no such product. No such product has been announced by Apple. While there have been rampant rumors and speculation about the alleged 10th anniversary edition that will pack features never before used on an iPhone, that doesn’t mean Apple will announce such a device along with the new iPhones later this year.

Even if such a product is announced, will it actually be called iPhone 8? Why use the presumed name of a model you’d expect in 2018 anyway? How does iPhone 8 signify a 10th anniversary version? What about iPhone X or an iPhone Edition? Either name implies something real special.

Now about the price and other things.

As you have noticed, there has been an inordinate amount of fear mongering about this alleged premium iPhone. Some of it has been about supposed features or missing features. So, despite Apple’s great reliance on a biometric feature, the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, there have been published reports that it was unable to add it in front due to the iPhone 8’s edge-to-edge OLED display. The experience of Samsung, where they put the Galaxy S8’s fingerprint sensor in the rear, is cited.

Now the fact that another company has a problem doesn’t mean Apple hasn’t solved it. Remember that iPhones use technology from AuthenTec, a pioneer in fingerprint sensor technology that was acquired in 2012. No other company can use the same sensing scheme for obvious reasons.

Other reports suggest Apple will rely on facial recognition, and ditch Touch ID. There’s certainly reason to be skeptical if you look at Samsung, due to the highly flawed facial sensor on the Galaxy S8. It can be easily defeated with a photograph.

Again, none of this means anything. That Apple can solve a problem that stumps Samsung should not be surprising. Apple is not going to release this alleged 10th anniversary iPhone without a working and easy-to-use biometric system. Period.

But what about the alleged high price?

Well, it may seem that $1,000 is high. But don’t forget that top-of-the-line smartphones aren’t cheap. Apple’s prices are in the same range as high-end gear from Samsung. So the iPhone 7 Plus tops out at $969 for the model with 256GB storage. Most buyers, however, buy them on some sort of lease/purchase plan, which at Apple is $45.75 per month, so you don’t see the actual cost.

But if you want to buy it outright, you not only pay $969 in the U.S., but sales tax too. Here in Mesa, AZ, it’s 8.05%, which is made up from a peculiar and complicated combo of state and city rates. Total price, $1,047. Yes, a current iPhone may cost more than a grand. I’m assuming you’ll pick it up, or get free shipping to your home or office.

The Galaxy S8+ is similarly priced, but Samsung is currently running fire sales with discounts of $150-$300. And this just a few months after its release.

Now I suppose the iPhone 8 might cost $100 more than the presumed iPhone 7s Plus, with the 256GB version listing for $1,069 unlocked. That’s consistent with the $1,100 purchase price I’ve read about this week; more when you add the sales tax.

So you get the picture. Apple charges a fair price for iPhones, but they aren’t overpriced, particularly when you compare it to other flagship smartphones. And, yes, there are discounts for Phones too. You just have to shop around.

I think I’ve used enough space with a reality check about Apple’s pricing for the iPhone. Yes, there’s cheaper gear, but other companies aren’t shy about matching Apple. The main difference is that those companies will stoop to heavy discounts to move inventory. Deals for iPhones aren’t so common.

Now I’ve already gone through chapter and verse about what it costs to buy a Mac. Apple didn’t help matters by adding several hundred dollars to the price of the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. While it no doubt reflects the higher cost of production, you can see why Mac users complained. Then again, what about the prices of a Microsoft Surface? Consider the Surface Studio, the all-in-one desktop with the easily moved 28-inch touchscreen, which starts at $2,999. Even Amazon, where discounts are common, only drops $10 from the retail price.

Across the board, it’s clear Microsoft decided to play in Apple’s price arena — and even higher — when marketing the Surface. Even though they are well reviewed, as Windows PCs go, they are way more expensive than most other gear.

But it seems that only Apple is attacked for its high prices for Macs, just as they are attacked for the alleged high prices for iPhones, even the ones that don’t exist yet. But even if the alleged iPhone 8 costs more than other iPhones, that would be perfectly reasonable. Remember, it’s going to be a special or premium product.

Yet I have a feeling that pricing for the next generation iPhones may not be quite as high as some expect.

This really ages me, but I got my first car in 1967. I didn’t actually buy it; it was given to me by a relative, a 1957 Chevrolet sedan. There was no air conditioning, and the car had a three speed manual transmission. Yes, there was a decent radio.

Had the car survived for a few years, it might have had some value, but it was well worn, very well worn. Even the upholstery was torn, and I was never given a satisfactory explanation as to what happened.

Since I grew up in New York City, driving was not a major factor for me. There was plenty of public transportation, and city streets were so crowded that having a car would be a needless expense. Indeed, my dad didn’t buy his own car until he was in his early 70s, and then only because my stepmother wanted him to be able to take some road trips.

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Let’s put this in perspective: When I bought my first Mac in 1989 (I had been using them at the office till then), it was a IIcx that was assembled in the U.S. Apple also built gear in Cork, Ireland as I recall. But I never really paid much attention to where the gear was put together. Apple was the quintessential American company, founded in a garage — well, marketing VP Philip Schiller once told me a kitchen — and eventually growing into a tech powerhouse.

When Tim Cook joined the company to manage operations in 1998, he overhauled the supply chain to build products as inexpensively and efficiently as possible yet still meet the company’s quality standards. Over the years, this meant setting up sophisticated offshore manufacturing facilities using such contract companies as China’s Foxconn.

To put that in perspective, Foxconn, was founded in 1974 by Terry Gou, who remains its leader. As of 2015, it had 1.3 million employees, most  engaged in assembling tech gear not just for Apple, but other companies. The list includes such recognizable names as Acer, Amazon, Cisco, Dell, Google, HP, Intel Microsoft, Nintendo, Nokia, Sony and VIZIO.

Despite the wide range of customers for its manufacturing facilities, Foxconn and Apple are almost synonymous, even though Apple does assemble parts elsewhere. In fact, A-series processors and the scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass are both manufactured in the U.S. and shipped across the planet to Foxconn and other assemblers for inclusion in your favorite tech gear.

In the wake of a New York Times story about dreadful working conditions at Foxconn, Apple agreed to work with them to provide improved working conditions and higher salaries. Then as now, Apple is often identified as the only customer for such facilities, when that is just not so.

In recent years, Foxconn has promised to expand its U.S. operations. In 2013, Gou announced that his company planned on constructing a plant in Pennsylvania, anbutd it never happened. Further unfulfilled promises were made in 2014 of upcoming American facilities.

So talk is cheap!

Well there are now reports about an expansion of Foxconn into the U.S., and this one may just be real, or at least it’s getting support from the Trump administration.

So recently, President Trump claimed that Apple would build “three big plants, beautiful plants” in the U.S., but that has yet to be confirmed.

What appears to be confirmed is Foxconn’s plan to invest $10 billion to build an LCD display factory in Wisconsin. But this announcement is being greeted with skepticism, not just because Gou’s overwrought pronouncements may not be believed, but because of the company’s poor record in worker safety that would run afoul of even the most lax of state regulations. Foxconn has also been working hard to replace humans with robots, so even if the promise of up to 13,000 new jobs is borne out, it may only be a temporary situation.

At the start, the new plant in Wisconsin will reportedly have 3,000 employees, and the 13,000 figure represents a potential, not a reality. Promised for 2020, published reports speculate that many of those employees will spend their workdays watching robots build LCD panels for use in TV sets. They will not be working the production lines, which ought to limit the total number of people who actually will be employed at the new plant.

You see, Foxconn has been engaged in a massive effort to switch to robots at other plants. But at least robots don’t worry about poor working conditions, or commit suicide, as some have done.

But Wisconsin is one of those so-called “right to work” states, where unions have very little power to organize workers and demand decent salaries and safe facilities.

In exchange for the commitment to build that plant, Wisconsin is reportedly offering up to $3 billion in incentives. Such practices are not unusual when a company wants to set up a large facility in a state, as governors and other executives vie for the opportunity to host such factories.

Once again, even if the new Foxconn plant is ready to begin operations by 2020, and it is building LCD panels, it’s not at all certain if Apple will benefit. Right now, it appears that these components will be earmarked for TV sets, and that’s a business Apple isn’t entering.

But what about those three big, beautiful Apple plants? Is that a long-range plan, or something that Apple expects to accomplish in the near future?

While there have been ongoing demands that Apple build iPhones, iPads and other gear in the U.S., as a practical matter it’s very difficult. Foxconn and its partners have established sophisticated assembly and supply chain facilities in Asia, to ensure efficient and cheap manufacturing. There are no such facilities in the U.S., meaning they would have to be built from scratch. There’s the cost of setting up these plants, though I suppose if robots will do more and more actual production work, so, the need for employees will be reduced. Maybe it would be possible to build an Apple gadget in this country at a competitive price. The Mac Pro is assembled in Austin, but, of course, it’s expensive enough to absorb higher production costs.

In the meantime, it’s possible Foxconn will fulfill their promises. It’s equally possible that the 2020 date will slip and the promise will never be realized.