Hold on to your wallets — the iPhone price tag in Pakistan might soon hit Rs one million if Donald Trump’s aggressive new tariff policy goes through.
In a fiery investor note on Friday, Dan Ives, a top tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, warned that the cost of a made-in-USA iPhone could skyrocket to $3,500 (approx. PKR 1.01 million) — nearly triple its current price — thanks to Trump’s revival of Reagan-era manufacturing nationalism and a barrage of import tariffs.
Trump’s proposed plan slaps 50% duties on Chinese goods and 32% on imports from Taiwan, both of which are critical hubs for global electronics production — and yes, that includes your iPhone, AirPods, and most things with a charging port.
Ives didn’t sugar-coat it, calling the tariffs an “economic Armageddon” for the tech industry. He predicted a 40–50% surge in consumer tech prices across the board and warned that Trump’s plan could delay the AI revolution and even drag the US tech sector back by a decade.
And that’s not all. The fallout is already going global: China has hit back with 34% tariffs on US imports, signaling that a full-blown trade war might be back on the table.
Wall Street analysts are rattled, with some forecasting a resurgence in inflation and the possibility of a recession — all before Trump’s reshoring dreams have any chance of paying off.
In closing, Ives urged policymakers to rethink the tariff blitz before it nukes the economy.
“US consumers pay the price for this. Not a debate,” he stated bluntly.
For Pakistani consumers? Brace yourself. That next iPhone upgrade might cost you your entire savings — or a kidney.