Cupertino-based Apple might significantly increase the cost of its much-loved iPhones, potentially soaring as high as $3500, following sweeping global tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, warned a supply chain researcher in a report to CNN Business.
“Jobs and factories would come roaring back,” vowed Trump in his ‘Liberation Day’ speech, in order to build a supply chain in the US. However, leading tech analysts have warned that this could backfire dramatically, especially for the tech sector in America.
Dan Ives, Global head of technology research, Wedbush Securities, told CNN that the idea of bringing iPhone manufacturing back to the US was largely fictional.
He asserted that the attempt to replicate the supply chain Apple currently relies on in Asia would be a financially catastrophic decision.
“You build that supply chain in the US, with a fabrication plant in West Virginia or New Jersey, and you’ll have $3,500 iPhones,” Ives said. These fabrication plants, responsible for creating the chips that power Apple devices, are capital-intensive and complex to establish.
Ives estimated it would take at least $30 billion and three years for Apple to shift even 10 per cent of its supply chain to the United States. At present, about 90 per cent of iPhones are assembled in China, with vital components sourced from Taiwan and South Korea.
Apple has already felt the pressure from the tariffs. Since President Trump’s inauguration, the tech giant’s shares have dropped around 25 per cent, reflecting investor anxiety over supply chain disruptions. Ives described the current climate as an “economic Armageddon” for the tech industry, particularly for Apple, given its dependency on Asian manufacturing hubs.
Although Apple has announced plans to invest $500 billion in the US over four years to mitigate the impact of tariffs, the high cost of local manufacturing remains a major obstacle.
Angelo Zino, an equity analyst at CFRA Research, believes Apple will struggle to transfer more than a modest portion—around five per cent to 10 per cent—of the added costs to its customers.
“Apple is likely to delay any significant price hikes until the launch of the iPhone 17 this fall, which aligns with its usual approach to implementing price changes,” Zino explained in an interview with Reuters.
