So we were discussing the fifty to seventy to one hundred dollar price bumps in this year’s Apple Watch and iPhone lineup, particularly on those with steel and aluminum.
Anyone care to speculate if Apple is padding prices to account for trumps trade war? Frankly it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this is the cause for some of the jumps.
Perhaps they’re projecting the impact of tariffs and covering their eventuality or at least the uncertainty introduced by them. The price bump of the X primed acceptance too of course. It was surprising given we have gotten so used to ‘same price but better specs’ year after year.
POTUS is not at all happy that Tim Cook has been talking about how the trade war would cause Apple to raise prices:
Apple Says Trump Tariffs Could Make Apple Watch, Homepod More Expensive
So more increases as of yesterday.
Pencil 99 - 129 (+30%)
MacBook Air: 999 - 1199 (+20%)
Mac Mini: 499 - 799 (+60%)
iPad Pro 10.5: 649 - 799 (+23%)
iPad Pro 12.9: 799 - 999 (+25%)
There was a magic moment when Steve both brought great technology and design but also a lowered price point, when the market started to expand for Apple. That old narrative about expensive computers for fools with their money was clearly baloney.
We are in another era here however. The technology is so clearly ahead in certain fields, primarily iOS, that Apple can charge what they want. These percentages can’t be reduced to Trumpian tariffs.