Before the 2024 U.S. election, we got the news that Apple CEO Tim Cook contributed $1 million to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund. Funny how we’re all going to pay the price for that little transaction. Thanks to Trump’s tariffs, your iPhone prices could see a spike.
It should come as no surprise that Cook looked to support Trump’s second term. One favors big business while the other one commands a big business. Cook, along with Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, and Jensen Huang all supported Trump; a group of circus clowns all electing a new ring leader. The commonalities between them all are money and the pursuit of more of it. Well, while they get more money, there’s going to be much less of it going around.
Speaking of money, thanks to Trump’s tariffs, iPhone prices might rise
Immediately after retaking the White House, Trump began shooting out tariffs haphazardly. This additional tax on imported goods is made to encourage production in The States. While anyone with an IQ more than that of a donut would know that this negatively impacts businesses across several industries, what else could we expect from Trump?
Because of these taxes, companies that rely on exported goods will need to raise their prices to deal with the increased taxes. Either they raise their prices or they lose money. Here’s the issue, prices for consumers are already high, so price increases could discourage people from buying from these companies.
Apple is a company that could be impacted. According to the report, the company could see a 9% price hike. Apple devices are already expensive. So, a 9% price increase could be pretty high. For example, the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1199. A 9% increase could push the price up to about $1,308. That’s if Apple isn’t planning a price hike already without the tariffs.
If Apple doesn’t raise its prices, it could see a 3.1% drop per share of its stocks. A 3.1% dip is pretty significant for a company as big as Apple.
85% of iPhones are manufactured in China and the other 15% are built in India. Apple could negate the price hike if it magically moved the production over to U.S. soil, but that’s not likely unless Tim Cook is secretly a wizard who can make it happen with a wave of a wand.
But, Cook can’t magically do that just like how spitefully slapping tariffs on everything won’t magically boost American production. We’re going to have to brace for more expensive tech in the near future.
