However, as industry insider Mark Gurman points out in his newsletter, Apple had a contingency in store in case something like this happened. The company, alongside a few others, has been hoarding up on product inventory for months in the U.S. So when the tariffs go into effect from April 9 Apple will have a backlog of products to sell at the same prices as before.
This is a short-term solution unfortunately. While it will help the company delay the burden on consumers for a little while it will eventually run out of this inventory. And when that happens there’s a chance that it may ruin the launch of the iPhone 17 lineup.
But regardless of the circumstances, this price increase will negatively impact the iPhone 17 launch. To the average consumer there are no industry politics to consider: only the price tag they see on the box.
Another fun observation is that this inventory backlog may be the last time most Apple products in the U.S. are ones that were made in China. China is now facing a whopping 54 percent tariff rate and Apple will naturally try to shift more business to its other manufacturing hubs like India and Vietnam.
