For the past couple of months, we’ve seen things change quite a bit, with tariffs affecting the prices of the tech that we love. Since a lot of products are manufactured outside the US and are now subject to new tariffs, companies have faced the problem in different ways, with some even shipping extra products to the US in order to avoid increasing their prices.
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With that said, President Donald Trump made a huge statement today, sharing that Apple would be required to pay a 25% tariff on all iPhones that are not manufactured in the US. In a press conference shared on X by Acyn, Trump also expanded that this event would not be exclusive to just Apple, and that it would also apply to any company not making phones in the US (via 9to5Google).
Big changes are coming
As you can imagine, this is going to affect many in the industry, large and small, with brands like Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola, Nothing, and many others, manufacturing their products outside the US. Prior to this announcement, some companies even pivoted their manufacturing operations outside of China in order to try and mitigate tariffs.
However, with Trump requiring products to be built in the US, this could be something that won’t really be possible to achieve, since it costs a lot of time and money to get operations setup from scratch. It’s important to note that Trump has stated that this is something that will happen towards the end of June, so there’s always a chance that things could change.
We’ve seen positions change on tariffs before, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising if something new comes up prior to this going into effect. Again, this is something that’s going to have to be closely monitored, but it does mean that folks looking to do a little shopping when it comes to these types of devices might want to buy them sooner rather than later.
While it’s never an ideal time to see price increases, we’re about to head into the second half of the year when most major brands reveal new products. Samsung is set to announce new foldables this summer, while Apple and Google will both unveil their latest devices just a few months after that. It will be interesting to see how these companies navigate these waters going forward.
