Tariffs trigger panic buying of iPhones in US

According to Bloomberg, Apple customers lined up to buy new iPhones, fearing the company might raise prices to offset US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Employees at stores across the US said they were bombarded with questions about potential price increases and witnessed customers buying phones in a panic.

Although Apple declined to comment to Bloomberg, retail stores reportedly had higher sales last weekend compared to previous years.

According to a report published by TechInsights, the new tariffs that Trump imposed on Chinese goods mean that the cost of producing an iPhone for Apple could increase from $580 to $850.

Apple will likely avoid immediately raising the price of its flagship product (which it has kept at $999 since 2017), but iPhones account for 50% of its total revenue.

One of the steps Apple could take in this situation is to lobby for exemption from tariffs.

On the other hand, considering that the White House has increased the tariff it applies to China to 104%, it does not seem very likely that an exemption will be granted through China.

Meanwhile, Apple announced that it would temporarily supply more iPhones from India, which faces a tariffs of about a quarter of that of China.

Although the technology giant will probably not completely renew its supply chains, it has been producing some of its products in Vietnam, Ireland, Thailand, and Malaysia for the last few years to reduce its dependence on China.

Despite Trump’s goal of bringing production to the US, it is not realistic to expect Apple factories to open one after the other in the US in the short term. According to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, moving iPhone production to the US is not only impossible, but could also increase the price of the smartphone to $3,500.