US iPhone prices: 2300 dollars for a top model because of Trump tariffs?
The first analysts are trying to fathom what Trump's new tariffs mean for Apple's calculations. Some are pessimistic.
Is the iPhone becoming an expensive pleasure?
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch)
The iPhone is an international product. Components are manufactured in numerous countries – including Taiwan and Germany – and then assembled in China or India. The new tariffs imposed by the US government under Donald Trump are therefore becoming a real problem for Apple. While the company was still fighting a US trade war with China during its first term in office, the whole world now seems to be affected. The strategy of increasing production in India, for example, is no longer working. The question now is what this means for iPhone prices, especially in what is still the most important market, the USA – and therefore Apple's home market itself. While initial analysts said after the announcement of the tariffs that it wasn 't all that bad, new horror figures came in over the weekend.
Apple cannot move its supply chain
The investment firm Rosenblatt Securities expects that the price of the most expensive iPhone 16 (Pro Max with 1 TByte) could rise from the current 1600 US dollars to 2300 dollars if Apple does not give up some of its margin. Overall, price increases of up to 43 percent are estimated. An iPhone 16 Pro could become 1400 instead of 1000 dollars, an iPhone 16e 850 instead of 600 dollars. According to market experts, the company would probably have to increase prices by at least 30 percent on average to largely offset the tariffs, i.e. not quite as massively.
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Apple does not have a direct alternative, unless the company comes to an agreement with the Trump administration. Although it could set up final assembly in the USA – as Apple and its acquisition Next once did –, components still come from all over the world, as the supply chain is simply lacking in the USA.
Higher labor costs
Labor costs are also higher, which probably does not exceed the tariffs, but does not make the hypothetical US iPhone any cheaper. Vietnam has been hit particularly hard at 46%, China even harder at 54%. India is still being treated comparatively gently at 26%.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal has done some more detailed calculations. The commissioned analysis company TechInsights comes to the conclusion that the pure hardware costs of an iPhone 16 Pro could rise from 550 to 850 dollars. In China, each assembled iPhone will cost 30 dollars, while in the USA this could be up to 300 dollars, according to TechInsights.
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