Apple has created a loyal fan base of customers willing to pay premium prices for their products, like iPhones. The company’s strategy has long revolved around product differentiation, brand equity, and perception of value—but one longtime observer warns that a sudden jolt from large tariff-fueled price increases would deter even the most staunch Apple loyalist.
“If someone charged you $7 for a slice of pizza, even the best slice of pizza, you wouldn’t buy it,” Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities managing director, told Fortune on Monday. “So everything has a price.”
The Trump administration announced late Friday that some electronics, such as smartphones, chips, and computers, were temporarily exempted from the 145% import tariffs on goods from China. The exemptions also offer relief for companies like Apple that assemble devices in China and import them. The iPhone maker’s shares have suffered since Trump ramped up tariffs on China.
However, in a social media post on Sunday, President Trump said, “NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook,’” while adding that the exempted products are “just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’” Apple is getting some breathing room as it does not have to automatically start passing massive price increases on to U.S. consumers, Wedbush analysts wrote in a note on Sunday evening. But there’s still caution ahead.
“If the 145% China tariffs came into play we believe Apple would have no choice but to start charging $2,000-plus for iPhone Pro once inventory levels came down,” the analysts wrote.
Meanwhile, amid ongoing tariff uncertainty, many Apple customers are flocking to stores to make purchases before any potential price bumps. Apple employees from locations across the U.S. said stores were filled with customers the weekend following Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs. Apple’s retail stores in the U.S. saw higher sales that weekend than in prior years in at least some major markets, Bloomberg reported.
The “panic buying” is also about the other bucket of tariffs that could come over the next few months, Ives told Fortune. “When you create that level of uncertainty, it causes chaos in the supply chain,” he said.
Apple took the top spot for global smartphone sales in Q1 on the back of the iPhone 16e’s launch and strong demand, data from Counterpoint Research showed, according to Reuters. And a survey from International Data Corporation found global smartphone shipments rose 1.5% in the first quarter, with Apple front-loading supply to sidestep potential tariffs.
Apple investors need to look past the next three months and “assume China tariff negotiations take a positive turn,” Wedbush analysts wrote in Sunday’s note. The firm maintains an outperform rating and a $250 price target.