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Apple customers afraid of massive price hikes because of tariffs helped Apple's device sales during the fiscal third quarter of 2025, Apple CEO Tim Cook said today.

iphone-16-apple-intelligence.jpg

Speaking to Reuters, Cook said that approximately one percentage point of Apple's 10 percent sales growth in Q3 2025 can be attributed to customers buying more products to get ahead of tariffs.

"We saw evidence in the early part of the quarter, specifically, of some pull-ahead related to the tariff announcements," Cook said.

When U.S. President Donald Trump first announced tariffs in April, there were reports suggesting that iPhone prices could increase significantly as a result, going as high as $2,300. Customers who were worried about higher prices opted to make a purchase before the tariffs went into effect.

Cook said that Apple incurred $800 million in tariff related costs in the June quarter, and it expects $1.1 billion in tariff costs in the September quarter if the current tariffs do not change and if no new tariffs are added.

Article Link: Apple's Q3 Sales Boosted by Consumers Scrambling to Beat Tariff Price Hikes
 
Expected this to happen. Due to the fear of tariffs, many would have decided to upgrade their devices earlier than usual. Whatever the reasons, it was a very good quarter for Apple.
 
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Tariffs are not in mind of any european, for the time being. We'll see.
 
Misleading title. Since growth was 10% and this accounted for 1 point, it means 90% of the increase was NOT consumers “scrambling to beat tariffs.”
 
This seems like low information speculation about politics. I don’t really have a problem with it, but it’s not my favorite. Seems like a political article with a sales number attached to it. And we don’t know if any of the speculation around tariffs has been accurate or not. If we believed all the speculation, we would not have seen this increase. Not a lot of news here, but I love this site.
 
Misleading title. Since growth was 10% and this accounted for 1 point, it means 90% of the increase was NOT consumers “scrambling to beat tariffs.”
10% of Apple's increase in sales was due to external government factors. What is misleading about that? Apple's sales *were* boosted (albeit temporarily) by buyers worried about future price increases. The flip side to this is that sales will likely be slightly lower in future quarters than they would have otherwise been, as consumers accelerated their purchases, much as an aggressive end of month sale at the mall can generate large sales volume at the expense of sales the following weeks.

This isn't just happening with phones, by the way, it's happening across the board with electronics, clothing, and even household goods (think anything sold in a Dollar Tree). TV sales have increased rapidly. If you are considering buying a TV, phone, or appliance, why not lock in the current price today instead of paying 20% more for it in 6 months?

This seems like low information speculation about politics.
Do you have some reason to believe tariffs affected sales by more than, or less than 10%? Tim Cook is the one directly quoted in the article. If you know more than he does about what caused a change in Apple's sales, please provide the evidence, otherwise it is unbased speculation.

Seems like a political article with a sales number attached to it.

Governmental and regulatory concerns are part of corporate operations, and firms as large as Apple have entire divisions allocated to this area.

Are you suggesting Apple should ignore government policy? Or are you saying consumers are wrong for accelerating their purchases because of the uncertainty of future tariffs on prices? Either way, regardless of what you "wish" for, consumers accelerated some purchases to avoid tariffs, and Apple took steps to avoid them as well, as posted above by @Justin Cymbal . Looks like smart economic practice on both parts.

I'm curious what people who are critical of this think consumers should do, when faced with the possibility of a new tax of up to 25% on imports? Wait and pay hundreds more once the tariffs kick in? Saving money is now bad somehow? Really scratching my head on this one.
 
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