The alternative is severely reduced purchases, which are an even more severe hit to all the metrics mentioned.

Margins are important, but so is rate of sales. Hence the statements in the original Reuters article.

> alternative is severely reduced purchases

Doubt it. Keep a cheap upgrade option with an older and reduced BOM and then use the tariffs as an excuse to boost the top-of-the-line offering to $3k.

I agree with that, and that is most likely what will happen.

But my point is I would be very shocked if base model iPhones, lower specced Pro models, and the 16e would see a price increase beyond 15%.

At the higher tier (Pro Max, and maybe even Pro) absolutely, as those were already out of the price range of the average consumer.

> would be very shocked if base model iPhones, lower specced Pro models, and the 16e would see a price increase beyond 15%

I’ll also be shocked if they take much margin hit there. All of the iPhone’s competitors are also getting tariffed, after all. And the tariffs don’t bridge the labour-cost difference, so it’s not like launching domestic production would make sense even if you could trust that these policies will stick.

That's why Buffet sold his Apple stock: he saw this coming. Now he can buy it at a discount.

Apple consumers aren't price sensitive. If they were, they wouldn't buy Apple.