On the eve of the introduction of increased duties against goods made in China Americans began to buy up existing iPhone smartphones en masse. After all, the same models from future deliveries may cost much more. Apple is also actively preparing for the introduction of new duties and has accelerated the import of products from sanctioned countries.
For example, in just three days in the final week of March, Apple delivered 5 airplanes filled with iPhones and other products from India to the United States. These urgent shipments were made to avoid the new 10% reciprocal duties imposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump, which came into effect on April 5. Apple currently has no plans to raise retail prices in India or other regions despite the tariffs.
To mitigate the impact of the new duties, the company urgently moved stocks from its production centers in India and China to the United States, even though shipments usually decline during this period.
«Factories in India, China, and other key locations have begun sending products to the US in anticipation of higher tariffs», one source said.
How stockpiling iPhone inventory will help Apple
This accumulation will allow Apple to temporarily maintain current prices, the source adds. The stocks that arrived at lower duties will temporarily protect the company from price increases. After all, new batches of products will have to pay additional duties to the changed tariffs, which will affect the retail price of goods. Apple’s warehouses in the United States are currently full for several months ahead.
«The price increase to compensate for this blow will not be limited to the US market — it will have to be extended to key global regions», the source added.
The company is currently analyzing how different duty structures at production locations will affect its supply chain.
The US market remains critical to Apple, and the company is keen not to pass on rising costs to consumers, which could negatively impact both demand and profits.
To reduce the future impact of tariffs, Apple is focusing more devices on the US market,produced in India. India is currently subject to lower duties than China. Apple has also been graduallymoves part of its production to Vietnamwhere tariffs will be lower than in China. Apple Watch, Mac, AirPods, and iPad are already manufactured there. In addition, some Mac models are also produced in Ireland, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Source: indiatimes
Spelling error report
The following text will be sent to our editors: