How much will Apple’s new tariffs cost? Expert weighs in

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President Donald Trump announced a new 25% tariff on Apple’s iPhones, directly targeting the company and claiming it would help bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. 

However, analysts and experts, including well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, believe this move won’t achieve that goal, and for good reason.

Kuo argues that moving Apple’s manufacturing to the US would be extremely expensive and take years. 

In terms of profitability, it's way better for Apple to take the hit of a 25% tariff on iPhones sold in the US market than to move iPhone assembly lines back to US.https://t.co/ycTwPmQyEp pic.twitter.com/VPRRpj0caU

— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 23, 2025

One estimate suggests it could cost $30 billion just to move 10% of Apple’s supply chain and take at least three years to do it. 

Other estimates are even higher, with Morgan Stanley saying the total cost could be in the hundreds of billions. 

As an example, building two computer chip factories in Arizona already costs $40 billion.

The tariffs will cost Apple money in the short term, around $900 million in just this quarter, but the company is large and profitable enough to absorb the hit. 

In the long run, the extra cost from the tariffs will likely be passed on to customers through higher prices.

It’s also important to understand that the tariff applies to the import price of each iPhone model, not the final retail price, and the costs vary between different models. 

Trump claims these tariffs will discourage companies from investing in other countries and force them to manufacture in the US. But in reality, the opposite is happening. 

Apple and its suppliers have been moving operations out of China for years, not to the US, but to countries like India. 

For example, Foxconn, one of Apple’s main partners, plans to double iPhone production in India by the end of 2025.

So while the tariffs may sound like they’re helping American industry, they’re mostly political gestures that the US companies like Apple end up paying the price, and eventually, so do American consumers.

What do you think about Kuo’s opinion? Do you think manufacturing the iPhone in the US is a good idea? Tell us what you think below in the comments, or via our Twitter or Facebook.