Trump Talks With Appleās Cook As iPhone Price Hikes Loom
US President Donald Trump said he spoke with Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook earlier on Monday, just as the iPhone maker was reported to be considering price increases later this year.
Apple is weighing whether to raise prices for an iPhone lineup coming in the fall, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter whom it didn't identify. The company is exploring whether to ācoupleā price increases with new features and designs, while trying to avoid the perception that any hikes are tied to US tariffs, the Journal reported. Apple didn't respond to Bloomberg's request for comment.
A few hours after the Journal report, Trump said he had spoken to Cook. He didn't address the potential price increases, instead focusing on how he thinks the company will end up raising its US spending plan beyond the $500 billion that it had pledged in February. āHe's going to be building a lot of plants in the US for Apple,ā Trump said.
Consumers and analysts have been bracing for Apple price increases for more than a month. Bloomberg News reported in April that the company stocked up on inventory to prepare for the tariffs and that price increases were growing more likely.
Shares of Apple climbed 6.2% to $210.79 in New York after the US and China moved to de-escalate their trade dispute, spurring a broader rally across markets.
Apple hasn't changed the starting price of its flagship iPhone model since it debuted the iPhone X in 2017 ā keeping it at $999. But the company was widely expected to weigh hikes after Trump announced sweeping tariffs against several nations that Apple relies on for manufacturing. In February, the company went with a higher price for the iPhone 16e, which replaced the budget iPhone SE in its lineup, signaling its willingness to raise costs when needed.
Cook said during a recent earnings call that Apple could incur costs of about $900 million this quarter due to tariffs. He was asked about potential price increases during the same call but promptly shut down the question, saying: āWe have nothing to announce today.ā
Cook had successfully lobbied Trump during his first administration to exempt some of the company's products from tariffs.
High-end phones, including the Pro and Pro Max models, will be produced in China, even as Apple builds up capacity in Indian factories, the newspaper reported. Apple is seeking to import most of the iPhones it sells in the US from India by the end of next year, accelerating a shift beyond China to mitigate risks related to tariffs and geopolitical tensions, Bloomberg News has reported.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
