Apple unveils its latest iPhone line-up amid Trump’s trade war

Apple has unveiled its new iPhones 17 line-up, along with updates to its digital watches and AirPod products at its annual September product launch.

The new iPhones are the first to be released since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and unleashed a barrage of tariffs, in what his administration says is an attempt to bring overseas manufacturing back to the US — a crusade that has thrust Apple CEO Tim Cook into the hot seat.

The new iPhones are still expected to be made in Apple’s manufacturing hubs in China and India, much to the Trump administration’s consternation.

Both Mr Trump and US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick have repeatedly insisted that iPhones be made in the US instead of overseas.

It is an unrealistic demand that analysts say would take years to pull off and would result in a doubling, or even a tripling, of the iPhone’s current average price of about 1,000 dollars (£740).

Mr Cook tried to placate Mr Trump by initially pledging that Apple would invest 500 billion dollars in the US over the next four years, and then upped the ante last month by adding another 100 billion dollars to the commitment.

He also gifted Mr Trump a statue featuring a 24-karat gold base.

That kind of diplomacy has helped insulate Apple from Mr Trump’s most severe tariffs. However, the iPhones being brought into the US still face duties of about 25%, stoking speculation that the company will reveal its first across-the-board price increase in five years in an effort to preserve its hefty profit margins.

Since 2020, Apple has charged 800 dollars for its basic iPhone and 1,200 dollars for its top offering, but analysts now believe the company may raise prices by 50-100 dollars on some of the new models.

If Apple does announce price increases, it will come just weeks after Google held steady on prices for its new Pixel smartphones.

Although Apple’s stock price is still down by 4% so far this year, the shares have been bouncing back in recent months amid signs it will not be as hard hit by the tariffs as once feared, and a highly anticipated court ruling cleared the way for the company to continue receiving 20 billion dollars annually to lock in Google’s search engine as the default option on iPhones.