Apple CEO Tim Cook provided the company’s first comment on the impact of President Trump’s tariffs during a second-quarter revenue call with investors on Thursday. The iPhone maker saw only “limited impacts” from tariffs in the March quarter, but Cook said Apple could not predict what it means next year. However, if things remain the same, the company estimates that tariffs will only add $900 million to third quarter expenses.
The news was a relief for investors, and even called it “a pretty good result.” However, given the rapid changes in US trade policy over the past few weeks, investors remained concerned about what the next quarter would look like.
Cook told investors that Apple’s estimates were intended to provide some colour and only if current global tariff charges, policies and applications were not changed for quarterly balances and no new tariffs were added.
He also warned that the estimate should not be used to project the impact of tariffs in future quarters, as there are “unique factors” that will benefit the June quarter.
In an interview with CNBC, Cook down the impact of tariffs, with Apple already procuring about half of the US iPhones in India and most other products for the US market from Vietnam.
When pushed by one investor to provide details from the June quarter onwards, Cook said, “I don’t want to predict the future because I don’t know what will happen with tariffs.”
Cook added that he does not want to predict future production mixing, but noted that he is very involved in the tariff debate. (That was already clear. Shortly after the meeting with President Trump, Apple’s iPhone escaped trade policy changes that could skyrocket iPhone pricing.)
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“On our part, we manage our company the way we always have, focusing on thoughtful and intentional decisions, focusing on long-term investments, on innovation and the possibilities it creates,” Cook said. “We look ahead and we are confident, confident in our ability to innovate and enrich our users’ lives, and we are confident that we can continue to run our business in the way that has always made Apple stand out.”
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