As we get closer to the prospective release date for the iPhone 17 series, there’s major speculation that the prices may rise due to this year’s U.S. tariff complications.
Right now, Apple makes its phones in China and India, but the U.S. has a 20 per cent tariff on China, so the company is working to make sure that most of the phones it sells in the U.S. and likely Canada, by proxy, will be made in India. It’s unclear where exactly Apple ships its Canadian iPhones from, but in talking with other tech companies, it seems likely that Canadian devices have to take a pitstop in the Port of L.A. MobileSyrup reached out to Apple Canada about how it ships devices to the country, and will update this story with any additional information Apple provides.
All of this tariff uncertainty has led analysts to speculate that the cost of the phones will go up US$50 to US$100 (roughly C$69 to C$138) to offset the price of the tariffs. Apple has kept the mainline iPhone price roughly the same for a few years and has tried to get people to spend more by buying a Pro or Plus phone. When you consider inflation, the iPhone has been around $1,200 in Canada since the iPhone 6s. The current iPhone 16 is listed at $1,129, and the iPhone 16 Pro is $1,449.
With the new tariffs, Apple could finally have the excuse it needs to bump up the core price. However, an earlier report mentioned that the company is trying hard not to attribute any price changes to the tariffs over fears of angering the Trump government. That doesn’t mean we won’t see a price increase, but it likely means that Apple will attribute it to something else.
Apple rarely raises prices in a straightforward way, so we’re more likely to see some strange pricing choices. For instance, the iPhone 17 Pro could drop the 128GB storage option, moving its base price up the same way the 16 Pro Max did last year. Perhaps Apple will even do this to all models, moving the base 17 up another storage tier, while also reflecting that in a price increase.
Apple also released the iPhone 16e last year, moving the low-end price of an iPhone up a few hundred dollars. This made it fairly close in price to the standard iPhone 16, so if Apple raises the price of the 17 this year, it would put more space between those two models.
What remains to be seen is where this will leave the rumoured iPhone 17 Air. Apple has been trying to get core iPhone shoppers to move up to the more expensive iPhone Plus models for a few years with marginal impact. It seems like people really like the size/price of the standard iPhone. The upcoming iPhone 17 Air was supposed to change that by finally offering a compelling reason to get a larger and more expensive iPhone. However, if the prices all go up, I expect shoppers will be more hesitant to upgrade to the slimmer model.
Source: 9to5Mac
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