Apple quickly shipped 600 tons of iPhones to ‘beat’ the new tariffs

Apple airshipped 600 tons of iPhones to the US from India before new US tariffs were scheduled to take effect, as reported by Reuters and The Times of India. Meanwhile, Nikkei Asia reports Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Lenovo were pressing to ship as many “premium” devices as possible, like high-priced computers above $3,000 that would see the biggest price increases under the new tariffs. According to Reuters, the company lobbied officials to speed up customs clearance, added workers, and temporarily kept its plant in India running on Sunday to achieve a 20 percent increase in production. Based on the planes’ capacity and the weight of iPhones plus packaging, the outlet estimates that about 1.5 million devices were shipped out since March, which could help Apple avoid raising prices for a while. Nikkei Asia spoke to an executive at a supplier to Apple, Microsoft, and Google, who said they got the call to ship as many consumer electronics by air as possible, but “there’s only so much” that could be shipped in time before the tariff deadline. HP reportedly initially told suppliers to stick to the original shipping plan, but within 24 hours reversed that and wanted as many devices shipped to the US as possible, while also planning to increase production in Mexico. Meanwhile, Samsung is reducing smartphone component orders for the middle of 2025, while some PC makers like Lenovo and Acer are indicating they’ll increase output focus for non-US markets.