Customers Are Rushing To Buy IPhones As Tariffs Loom

Summary: Fearing price hikes from Trump’s new tariffs, customers are panic buying iPhones. But Apple has anticipated the rush by stockpiling devices and increasing imports. Apple is also planning to mitigate the impact by sourcing more units from India instead of China.

Panic buying is settling in. According to a recent report from Bloomberg, multiple Apple employees are sharing anecdotal stories of how stores are packed with customers panic buying iPhones in anticipation of prices going up because of Trump’s recent tariffs.

Apple stockpiling iPhones

The report claims that the rush at Apple’s retail stores is comparable to the business of a holiday season, except that in this case, it’s anything but a holiday. Compared to previous years, these stores are seeing more sales on April 5 and 6.

But Apple has anticipated the demand. A separate report from The Times of India revealed that Apple actually shipped five planes full of iPhones to the US during the final week of March. It is also bringing in iPhones from China during what is otherwise a traditionally slow time.

It is estimated that Apple’s stockpile of iPhones should last it for several months. This means that Apple will not have to increase prices in the near future.

Tariffs and what it means for Apple

Trump’s recent tariffs could affect companies like Apple, products like iPhones, and customers. Since most of Apple’s manufacturing takes place outside of the US in countries like China and India, the tariffs could hit the company hard. The logical solution is to bring its manufacturing back to the US. However, that isn’t going to happen. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claims that Apple will not move iPhone production to the US.

The analyst doesn’t say why, but others have suggested that the American workforce might not be ready for production on a scale that Apple requires, which involves repetitive work for hours on end.

So, what will Apple do? According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple will mitigate some of the tariffs by importing more iPhones from India. India has a lower tariff rate than China (26% versus 54%).