iPhone prices are set to rise exponentially under President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” trade tariffs, according to experts. The warning comes as the cost of production for the latest model, the iPhone 16 Pro was released, confirming a surge of £451 to £663, as reported by TechInsights analyst Wayne Lam for The Wall Street Journal.
The price hike is down to Apple manufacturing the iPhone in China, which was hit with a 54% tax on imported goods in Trump’s new tariffs. The President claims that increasing the price of foreign products should encourage domestic manufacturing.
China was among the hardest hit by the announcement and is set to face tariffs of 34%, sparking a furious reaction from the country. Although part of its anger was aimed at taxes placed on Taiwan.
It’s likely that the inflated costs of the iPhone would be passed onto the consumer, meaning the price of a 255GB iPhone 16 Pro will rise from it’s current price of £1,099.
Barton Crockett, senior research analyst at brokerage firm Rosenblatt Securities told the WSJ that moving iPhone production to America would be a “massive, mammoth undertaking”. This is because Apple would need to import raw materials, including cobalt for the battery and aluminium for the phone’s casing and internal frame, to make the devices, proving that there’s no economical way to make the smartphone in the US.
Crockett explained that it’s “not clear” that a “competitively priced smartphone” could be made in the US, especially since assembly in China relies heavily on labour.
On April 2, Trump announced sweeping tariffs on the £2.3trillion worth of goods imported to the US every year. There will be a “baseline” levy of 10% imposed on all countries and what they sell to the States. On top of that, President Trump will apply “individualised reciprocal” tariffs to all countries it has a trade deficit with, i.e. those where the States buys more from them than the other way round. In some cases those add-ons are as high as 50%.
The UK escapes these additional tariffs, but will still see all exports to the States hit with at least a 10% extra levy. And some sectors will be hit harder. One reason the UK got off lighter than most is probably because we have broadly balanced trade with the US. It could also be about negotiations that have taken place.
The news of the iPhone price hike comes as Sky Mobile slashed the price of the feature-packed iPhone 16 Pro, with prices starting at £28 per month — previously £30 — with a £12 upfront cost. Amazon have also rolled out a special discount on the iPhone 16 Pro in a limited flash deal. Normally priced at £1,099, Amazon has slashed £100 off the price, bringing it down to £999.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
