Anyone who has bought an iPhone or other Apple product has seen the note on the company’s packaging that its products are designed in California, but that doesn’t mean they’re made there. Answering the question of where the iPhone is made isn’t easy.

When trying to understand where Apple manufactures its devices, there are two key concepts that seem similar, yet different: assembly and manufacturing.

Manufacturing is the process of creating the components that go into the iPhone. Although Apple designs and sells the iPhone, it does not manufacture the components itself. Instead, Apple uses manufacturers around the world to provide individual parts. The manufacturers specialize in certain items: camera specialists produce the lens and camera assembly, screen specialists build the display, and so on.

Assembly is the process of putting together all the individual parts, made by specialized manufacturers, into a finished, working iPhone.