The iPhone Is Off the Hook on Tariffs (For Now)
Credit: Semeon Hrozian
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It looks like Apple fans won’t need to worry about massive price hikes on iPhones and other gear — at least not in the near future. Despite an escalating trade war that’s seen “reciprocal” tariffs on Chinese imports reach 145%, President Donald Trump has decided to ease off on the technology sector.
On Saturday, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration had exempted “smartphones, computers and other electronics” from these tariffs. The official list of exclusions, published Friday, covers the iPhone (8517.13.00), iPad and Mac (8471), Apple Watch (8517.62), and even the Apple Studio Display (8528.52.00). Apple’s Vision Pro is more nebulous but would likely fit into the same 8471 category as the iPad and Mac.
However, not every Apple product has qualified for an exemption here. All of Apple’s AirPods fall under an entirely different category for headphones (8518.30), and the Apple TV also gets its own category for set-top boxes (8528.71), neither of which is on the list of exemptions. Similarly, the HomePod would likely be classified under 8518.22, which is the category for speakers, but a case could be made for putting it in the same 8517.62 category as the Apple Watch.
It’s worth noting that this change doesn’t free the iPhone and other excluded products from all tariffs. The change removes the 125% “reciprocal” tariff on China and the 10% baseline global tariff on all other countries, but the 20% tariff on China from last month remains in effect.
Still, it’s much easier for Apple to eat the costs of a 20% tariff. Apple has been trying to hold the line on iPhone pricing, even going so far as flying in planeloads of iPhones ahead of the tariffs coming into effect. There’s some debate on how long that supply will last, but Apple likely figured cooler heads would eventually prevail.
There was always a risk that the iPhone 17 lineup would be hit harder this fall by the tariffs if they remained in place. However, with all the flip-flopping we’ve seen from the current administration, there was a better-than-even chance the current tariffs would be reduced or gone by then, although nobody was sure it would happen quite this soon.
New Tariffs Will Eventually Show Up
Sadly, just because Apple has a reprieve from the current tariffs, there’s no guarantee it won’t be hit with a new set down the road. It doesn’t look like the tariff merry-go-round is about to stop any time soon.
Less than two days after the tariff exclusion was published, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on ABC News This Week to tell anchor Jonathan Karl that specific new tariffs are coming to the electronics industry, with President Trump confirming that they’ll be announced “over the next week.”
The goal remains the same, Lutnick says, which is to encourage Apple to build iPhones in America. Lutnick denied that the coming tariffs will mean higher prices for iPhones and other electronics in the US, because he believes companies can quickly pivot to manufacturing these products in the US to avoid these tariffs — a position that’s been refuted by many analysts and economics.
Earlier today, Trump reiterated from the Oval Office that these are short-lived exemptions that he made because companies “need a little bit of time,” citing a conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook and saying that he wanted to be “flexible” and help out.
The Trump administration has avoided any official messaging that suggests any of these changes are “exemptions,” classifying them instead as short-term relief. However, it remains entirely unclear when that period will end. Lutnick suggested “a month or two,” but nobody has yet committed to a schedule, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens in September when the iPhone 17 lineup is ready to ship.
