Trump’s 25% smartphone tariff will probably affect the iPhone 17

President Trump says a 25% smartphone tariff will come into impact by the top of June 2025.

President Trump has revealed that his proposed 25% tariffs on all smartphones coming into the U.S. will take impact in June 2025, properly earlier than a single iPhone 17 will ship.

Earlier on Friday, Trump introduced that there can be a penalty if Apple doesn’t transfer manufacturing to america. Now, his newest statements serve to make clear that different smartphone producers can be affected, and the President revealed precisely when the brand new tariffs can be imposed.

Based on President Trump, the 25% smartphone will affect not solely Apple, however each different producer that imports to the US, within the curiosity of equity. The tariffs are scheduled to take impact by the top of June, mentioned Trump.

“Once they construct their plant right here, there is no tariff,” mentioned the President. “So, they’ll be constructing vegetation there, however I had an understanding with Tim [Cook] that he would not be doing this.”

“He mentioned he’ll go to India to construct vegetation.” Trump commented that it was “okay to go to India, however you are not going to promote into right here with out tariffs.”

Apple’s shift in manufacturing to India started throughout the first Trump administration.

Trump says he’ll tariff all smartphones: “It might be additionally Samsung and anyone that makes that product, in any other case it would not be honest. So anyone that makes that product. And that’ll begin on I assume the top of June … after they construct the plant right here there is no tariff.”

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) Might 23, 2025 at 9:01 PM

Throughout President Trump’s first time period in workplace, Apple was capable of safe a tariff exemption, probably because of Tim Cook dinner‘s negotiating expertise. Cook dinner has an established technique for coping with President Trump, the place their conversations revolve round a singular difficulty essential to Apple.

The corporate was even capable of safe one other tariff exemption in April 2025, however it seems as if it is going to be short-lived.

Even with out President Trump’s newest plans for a 25% smartphone tariff, there’s at present an ongoing investigation into the nationwide safety implications of semiconductor manufacture, which is predicted to conclude with an extra tariff.

President Trump believes that iPhone manufacturing can transfer to america, although the nation presently lacks the mandatory assets, amenities, and low-cost expert labor required for such an endeavor. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made an equally weird declare that Apple simply wants robotic arms for U.S. iPhone manufacturing to change into a actuality.

Nonetheless, iPhone chip-maker TSMC’s US manufacturing efforts are a complete 5 years behind its Taiwan operations, indicating that the most recent Apple chips probably will not be made in america for the foreseeable future. Most likely near a decade.

Throughout Apple’s final earnings on Might 1, CEO Tim Cook dinner revealed that Apple anticipated to spend $900 million in its June quarter, solely on efforts to reduce the affect of Trump’s tariffs. The estimate was made beneath the belief that there can be no tariff-related adjustments, in order that quantity will probably be increased due to Trump’s 25% tariffs on smartphone imports.

Apple, understandably, needed to maintain its manufacturing prices and tariff-related bills as little as potential, so it determined to enhance iPhone manufacturing in India. Tim Cook dinner revealed that almost half of iPhones bought within the U.S. throughout the second quarter of 2025 got here from India.

This made sense on condition that China was dealt a 145% tariff, which was huge in comparison with the 26% tariff for imports from India. In April 2025, Apple started growing product imports from India in an try and keep away from tariff-related iPhone worth will increase.

Shoppers had been already panic-buying units, so Apple needed to take care of iPhone costs by way of short-term stockpiling. That was all earlier than President Trump’s newest tariff, although.

With the iPhone 17, Apple will not have the ability to apply the identical technique. The corporate will now face a 25% tariff no matter the place its units are produced. Mass manufacturing sometimes begins in July or August of yearly, so Apple does not have any iPhone 17 items stockpiled, both.

This finally implies that we may see a worth enhance in 2025, although it could be totally different than earlier predictions.