Apple CEO Tim Cook wants everyone—especially Donald Trump—to know that the company’s new iPhone Pro price hike has nothing to do with tariffs.
“There’s no increase for tariffs in the prices to be totally clear,” Cook told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday, the launch day for Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup. Earlier this month, Apple announced it would be raising the starting price for its most advanced iPhone by $100.
For the first time since the iPhone X debuted in 2017, Apple’s entry-level Pro model starts above $999. Analysts had predicted the increase, noting that major gaming companies also recently raised prices on their consoles.
For months, Cook and other executives have tried to stay on Trump’s good side in hopes of getting favorable policies for their respective businesses. But that has proven to be trickier than expected, as the president has shown no hesitation to involve himself in the affairs of private corporations, leaving top CEOs balancing on a very thin tightrope.
Since Trump’s election in November, big names like OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg have all met with him. Cook even presented Trump with a glass sculpture and pledged to boost Apple’s U.S. investments to $600 billion in an attempt to navigate Trump’s tariff threats against China and India, where most iPhones are assembled.
Apple isn’t alone in pledging huge investments. OpenAI, Eli Lilly, General Motors, and more have also promised billions in U.S. investments. But it seems these offerings of goodwill can only get you so far with Trump.
Even after Hyundai pledged $26 billion in U.S. investments, federal immigration agents raided its under-construction battery plant in Georgia.
For Apple, the tariffs have already cost it some money.
“For the June quarter, we incurred approximately $800 million of tariff-related costs,” Cook admitted on an August earnings call. He said those costs could climb to $1.1 billion in the September quarter if Trump’s trade policies remain unchanged. But Cook maintains they played no role in the price hike.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo.
But even if tariffs are nudging prices upward, Cook has little incentive to say so.
Trump has been quick to attack companies that cite tariffs for raising consumer prices. In May, he blasted Walmart on Truth Social after its CEO warned it couldn’t keep absorbing rising costs, writing that the company should “EAT THE TARIFFS.”
Since then, Trump has taken an even more direct approach with companies.
Last month, the U.S. government bought a stake in struggling chipmaker Intel after Trump called for CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign.
And this week, he told reporters that any TV network critical of him should lose its broadcasting license, a remark that came after ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live from the air following pressure from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
We’re not even a year into Trump’s second term, yet CEOs are already buckling—and no one knows how much further they’ll cave without putting up a fight.
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