Trump’s tariff to make iPhone much costlier?

US President Donald Trump’s retaliatory tariffs could increase the price of Apple’s tech products, so much so that an iPhone could cost Rs 2 lakh. The tech giant is already feeling the heat as it had lost nearly $300 billion in market value after Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tax.

The Trump government has imposed tariffs on over 180 countries, including those that are major manufacturing hubs of Apple products — China, India and Vietnam. China manufactures about 90 per cent of the 200 million (20 crore) iPhones sold by Apple and Trump imposed a 54 per cent tariff on the country. China accounts for Apple’s 80 per cent manufacturing capacity — with nearly 55 % of Apple’s Mac products and 80 per cent of iPads are assembled here.

Of late, Apple diversified its supply chain and opted for India and Vietnam too, both of which are facing high import taxes, 27 per cent and 46 percent respectively.

Now, with all of Apple’s manufacturing hubs facing the sting of increased tariffs, the company will have to either bear the additional cost or charge it from the consumer. In all likelihood, Apple would pass the extra expenditure to consumers and all its products could be hiked by 30-40 percent, according to Reuters report.

It is predicted that the rate of iPhones could rise by 43 per cent, which means consumers would be forced to shell out $1,142 (Rs 97,200) for iPhone 16. The iPhone 16 Pro Max’s cost could jump from Rs 1,36,100 to Rs 1,95,766.