The tech world is in tatters right now, as President Donald Trump's import tariffs have hit some of the biggest companies in the world. With the POTUS saying he'd had enough of allies and enemies alike taking 'advantage' of America, his baseline 10% on foreign imports is set to level the playing field. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, with the likes of China and the European Union being hit by customized tariffs. All of this comes after Canada and Mexico were hit by 25% tariffs earlier this year.
As well as Donald Trump managing to wipe $2.3 trillion off the stock market in just a matter of seconds, we've also seen the likes of Amazon, Apple, Tesla, and Walmart all take a hit due to their ties to foreign goods or parts.
Apple might've made a jaw-dropping $391 billion in 2024, but with Trump's tariffs already seeing the so-called Magnificent Seven (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla) lose a record $1 trillion, Apple stocks were down 9.1% in the immediate aftermath of the announcement.
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There are concerns that these losses will be passed onto the customer, and with it being more expensive to import phones from China, the price of the iPhone could be about to go through the roof.
While the cheapest iPhone 16 was released with an entry price of $799, Reuters has shared projections from analysts at Rosenblatt Securities that predict prices could be set to rise by 43%. That means the same base-level iPhone 16 would now cost an eye-watering $1,142.
This is just the start of our wallet-busting obsession with iPhones when you consider that the pricier iPhone 16 Pro Max could leap from $1599 to $2300.
Even the cheaper iPhone 16e, which was just launched as a cheaper alternative to the main line would jump from $599 to $856.
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While these are worst case scenarios, Rosenblatt Securities analyst Barton Crockett warned: "This whole China tariff thing is playing out right now completely contrary to our expectation that American icon Apple would be kid-gloved, like last time."
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There are mentions of the slow rollout of Apple Intelligence and lukewarm response, where some people described it as the worst thing the tech giant had ever released, with iPhone sales 'fluctuating'. This has led to obvious fears that the bottom line will increase, although equity analyst Angelo Zino says it will be hard to for Apple to pass more than a 10% increase onto its consumers: "We expect Apple to hold off on any major increases on phones until this fall when its iPhone 17 is set to launch, as it is typically how it handles planned price hikes."
Some might be asking why production doesn't simply move to somewhere with lower tariffs, but alongside as the logistical and monetary nightmare of this, Apple has already tried this by upping production in Vietnam and India. While neither are these are as high as China's 54% tariff, Vietnam was slapped with a 46% levy and India was hit with 26%.
Trump is trying to back American companies like Apple, but according to Crockett, his tariffs could have the opposite effect: "Our quick math on Trump's tariff Liberation Day suggests this could blow up Apple, potentially costing the company up to $40 billion. It's hard for us to imagine Trump blowing up an American icon...but this looks pretty tough."