Depending on who you ask, the best time to upgrade from an old phone to a newer one could be every two years, three years, or even five years. For some, a phone that has had one birthday is old enough; it all depends on who you are. What remains a fact is that most people won’t use a phone until it falls apart.
That means that you might be planning an upgrade. I, for one, am hoping to get my hands on a new phone before the year ends, but with the way things are going, I might need to speed that up. New tariffs imposed by the US on phone-exporting countries could mean a few hundred dollars added to your next phone’s price tag if you wait too long.
Tariffs Imposed by Trump Mean That Phones and Other Tech Will Inevitably Increase in Price
To hit back at the tariffs and charges that other countries impose on US imports, President Trump has decided to introduce “reciprocal tariffs” on more than 180 countries. These tariffs vary pretty significantly but go as high as 49%, and with that much more being charged to importers, the price is bound to be thrown back onto the consumers.
Countries like Japan, China, Vietnam, South Korea, and many more that are heavily involved in the manufacture and assembly of your favorite smartphones are on that list, and the tariffs aren’t minimal.
China, Vietnam, and India, in particular, are major countries that make the popular phones that we use. That includes Apple, Samsung, and Google devices. Essentially all Chinese OEMs, like OnePlus, Vivo, and Oppo, produce primarily in China. There’s essentially no major smartphone that will be escaping tariffs, and that’s the biggest problem here.
If You’re Planning to Upgrade “Soon”, You’d Best Upgrade “Now”
If you’re like me and you simply know that you’re gearing up for a new phone in the near future, it might be best for your finances if you fast-track that. Phones are already expensive enough, especially if you’re into flagships or upper midrange devices. Unfortunately, they’re about to get a lot more expensive, and it isn’t going to be pretty.
Things are more complicated than simple math will suggest, but we’re going to rely on simple math because on its own, it makes it clear how bad things are going to be. Think of a phone that currently costs about $999, like the Google Pixel 9 Pro. With the newly introduced tariffs of 34% on China, that phone will end up having a $340 increase attached to it if Google refuses to shoulder any percentage of the loss.
Unfortunately, before all of this even went down, China already had 20% tariffs on it. It’s not certain if the new tariffs will be additive, but if they are, it means that your new phones coming out of China will end up costing more than 50% of the price that you’re used to. That is not the kind of landscape that I want to look forward to.
Before that point comes around, it might be smart to buy the stock that’s already on US shores, because in a few months, things are going to get eye-wateringly costly.
