The price of an iPhone is set to skyrocket under President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs crackdown, experts have warned.
The cost of producing the latest model of its popular smartphone is set to surge from $580 to $850, TechInsights analyst Wayne Lam told The Wall Street Journal.
This is because Apple manufacturers its iPhone in China, which has been hit with a staggering 54 percent tax on its imported goods.
The tech giant would likely pass these inflated costs onto the consumer, taking the price of a 256GB iPhone 16 Pro from $1,100 to an eye-watering $3,500, according to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives.
The president claims his tariffs will encourage domestic manufacturing by increasing the price of foreign products.
But since Apple would still need to import the raw materials used to make its devices, experts say there is not an economical way to make iPhones on US soil.
Moving iPhone production to America would be a, ‘massive, mammoth undertaking,’ senior research analyst at brokerage firm Rosenblatt Securities Barton Crockett told the WSJ.
The cost of making an iPhone 16 with 256 GB will go from around $580 to $850, experts explained to The Wall Street Journal (stock image)
Part of Trump’s motivation for imposing taxes or international imports was to encourage domestic manufacturing
In response to Trump’s Liberation Day, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the country will tack on an additional 34 percent tariff on all US imports
‘It’s not clear you can make a competitively priced smartphone here,’ he told the outlet.
Currently the cost of assembly is around $30 in China, but this would soar by ten times if production moved to the US, Lam explained.
Apple declined the WSJ’s request for comment on any potential price increases related to the newly imposed tariffs.
On ‘Liberation Day’, Trump declared that foreign trade and economic practices have sparked a national emergency.
All nations will be faced with at least 10 percent tariffs on all US imports starting on Saturday.
But more than 90 countries will be hit with additional reciprocal tariffs in order to make the US ‘wealthy again’ by April 9.
Reciprocal tariffs, according to the White House, are the rates ‘necessary to balance bilateral trade deficits between the US and each of our trading partners.’
Several countries – including China – will be subjected to these individualized taxes, which are calculated by the White House while factoring in those nation’s trade policies.
In response to Trump’s Liberation Day, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the country will tack on an additional 34 percent tariff on all US imports.
The new tariff, which comes into effect on April 10, matches the rate of the ‘reciprocal’ 34 percent levy imposed by Trump. The levies are in addition to the existing tariffs already imposed on US goods.
‘China’s new tariffs stop short of full-blown trade war, but they mark a clear escalation – matching Trump blow-for-blow and signaling that Xi Jinping won’t sit back under pressure,’ Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Associated Press.
Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump had already hit China with two rounds of 10 percent importing tariffs.
‘The longer this drags, the harder it becomes for either side to deescalate without losing face,’ Singleton warned.