Apple employees across the U.S. say their stores were unusually busy over the weekend, with shoppers concerned that iPhone prices could rise sharply due to looming U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made products, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
One Apple worker described the scene as “panic-buying,” saying nearly every customer asked if prices were going to jump. “It felt like a holiday rush,” said another employee, noting that Apple hasn’t provided stores with instructions on how to respond to questions about tariffs.
The sudden spike in traffic comes after the Trump administration announced a possible 54% tariff on goods from China—where most iPhones are made. While there weren’t the usual launch-day lineups, the mood in stores resembled the holiday season.
Apple hasn’t commented publicly, but sales reportedly climbed over the weekend in several key markets. Some shoppers, like a visitor from Argentina at Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in New York, said they wanted to buy now before prices go up. “Everyone’s here because of fear,” she said.
Staff say they expect the rush to continue, even though this is typically a quiet season. While the tariffs haven’t hit yet, employees believe customers are acting early, just in case. It’s unclear if anyone is rushing to buy any iPhones in Canada amidst tariff fears.
Starting prices for the iPhone 16 in Canada are $899 for the iPhone 16e, then $1129 for the iPhone 16 and $1449 for the iPhone 16 Pro. I can’t imagine what iPhone 17 series prices will look like this fall if the tariff wars continue.
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We could very possibly see the iPhone 17 starting at double the price of the current iPhone 16 offerings, time will tell, it all depends if Apple wants to take a loss or not–which the trillion dollar company can easily afford.
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lol, iphones are now currently being shifted to production in vietnam and india who are currently making deals with Trump. Don't panic, lol. Better yet, Foxconn should build factories in the USA and build them there.
iPhone production should come to the usa. Using robotics, could get set up in as little as 3 years and would only add $100 production cost to the phone.
Yeah, I’m not sure where you’re getting those numbers from but given everyone’s tariffs on the US for putting (exports-imports/imports) tariffs on everybody, I’m not sure paying the tariffs on bringing iPhone components into the country would be only $100. Especially since China has extra tariffs because they’re special, controls a significant portion of rare materials that go into iPhone production and, as a result, have informed companies they now need a licence to get access to them. Prices for those will probably increase by a lot.
Plus, Tim has mentioned something along the lines of, “America doesn’t have the skilled workers at the scale they need.” and unless that has changed significantly in the last decade or so, well.. it’s not like the US is accepting immigrants, skilled or otherwise, at this time.
I hope it doesn’t jump crazy like rumours. I have been waiting for 17 Pro updates to see if I wanted to upgrade this year.
But if that is the case, I’ll just buy a replacement battery or take a risk of refurb off Amazon