iPhone Price Hike Fears Laid To Rest After Tax Exemptions

Apple fans, and honestly anyone shopping for tech can now breathe a sigh of relief. The White House just rolled out some tariff exemptions that mean iPhones, laptops, and other gadgets won’t get slammed with massive import fees.

Apple was staring down the barrel of a brutal 145% tariff on goods coming in from China, which had everyone worried about major price hikes. But with this move, that scenario’s on pause—for now.

Reported by Bloomberg, the exemptions, announced by US Customs and Border Protection, scale back Trump-era tariff plans. Smartphones, laptops, hard drives, memory chips, and processors etc. are off the hook. These products aren’t typically manufactured in the U.S., and setting up local production would take years. So yeah, this buys time.

Also spared? The machinery used to make semiconductors, which is a big win for companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. They’ve been investing heavily in U.S. production, so the timing couldn’t be better.

This all comes after a whirlwind week of economic shake-ups: tariff hikes, 90-day resets (excluding China), and even some bold claims about building iPhones in the U.S. But Bloomberg’s reporting hints that more changes could still be on the horizon—sector-specific tariffs might be next.

For now, though, Apple and its customers can breathe easy. The rollback to a 10% tariff gives some breathing room and might calm the rush of shoppers trying to beat price increases.