Trump’s new tariffs could impact your life more than you think, especially if you’re an Apple fan who loves upgrading your iPhone early every year. While the current iPhone 16 Pro Max with 1 TB of storage already costs a staggering $1,599 before taxes, its successor could carry a truly insane price tag.
Reuters says these tariffs applied globally could affect everything from “cannabis to running shoes and Apple’s iPhone.” Based on projections from Rosenblatt Securities, the iPhone 17 Pro Max with 1TB of storage (if Apple keeps the same amount of maximum storage for 2025) could cost nearly $2,300 due to the new tariffs applied to China, Vietnam, India, and Taiwan.
As reported by BGR, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple will have to quickly focus on increasing production in India and Vietnam to keep up with American demand for the new iPhone 17, including the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Kuo says that if things stay as they are, Apple’s profits will drop by around 8.5-9%, which is quite a lot for the company and its shareholders. At this moment, only 15% of global iPhone production is expected to shift to India this year, which is up from 10-12% in 2024. The analyst writes: “Given China’s unlikely concessions to the Trump administration for tariff exemptions, Apple could reduce the gross margin hit to 5.5-6% without raising prices if India and Vietnam secure tariff waivers through new US agreements.”
If that happens, Apple might be able to boost iPhone production capacity in India to over 30% of the global supply, which would negatively impact gross margins by only around 1-3%.
The analyst says the timeline of tariff exemptions is still unclear. However, Apple would speed up its shift of assembly orders away from China until non-Chinese production can satisfy most US demand.
The analyst believes Apple has a few options against Trump tariffs, which you can learn more about below.
