Buying a new phone? Why you shouldn’t panic about tariff price hikes

First, the bad news: Your next smartphone might be more expensive because of President Donald Trump’s recently imposed 10% tariff on Chinese imports.

First, the bad news: Your next smartphone might be more expensive because of President Donald Trump’s recently imposed 10% tariff on Chinese imports. But here’s the silver lining: It may be a while before smartphone prices start to rise – and those higher costs might not sting as much as expected. There’s a good chance the phone you want to buy is already in the United States, whether it’s a new device sitting in a warehouse or a secondhand phone. And promotional discounts can mean new phones sometimes don’t result in higher price tags. In addition, Americans tend to purchase new phones via monthly installment plans through carriers and retailers rather than paying the full retail price up front. A hypothetical price hike of $100, for example, may only translate to an extra few dollars per month – still an increase, but perhaps a more palatable one. The tariff on Chinese imports, which went into effect Tuesday and sparked a swift retaliation from Beijing, threatens to raise prices across a broad swath of everyday goods, from toys to jewelry and silverware. Yet the technology industry is particularly susceptible given that US tech giants including Apple have key parts of their supply chains in China. And it shows in the numbers: Communications and computer equipment were the top two categories of goods imported to the US from China in 2024, according to US Department of Commerce data. But analysts CNN spoke with don’t predict an immediate impact to smartphone shoppers, in part because price changes likely won’t be reflected in consumer prices until later this year.