Apple’s share price has been somewhat volatile over the past few months as concerns over a trade war with China and hefty tariffs loomed overhead. Now, with word that trade talks between the U.S. and China might actually bear some fruit, shares of Apple have been steadily on the rise. Earlier today, Apple’s share price hit an all-time high in intraday trading, reaching $235.02 per share before falling back down slightly.
“I think it’s going really well,” President Donald Trump said of the trade talks. on Thursday night. “We had a very, very good negotiation with China.
As to the ongoing talks between U.S. and Chinese negotiators, Reuters is reporting that there’s now newfound “optimism the two sides might be able to ease a 15-month trade war and delay a U.S. tariff hike scheduled for next week.”
Indeed, the notion of a significant tariff on Apple products — and the iPhone in particular — had shares of Apple reeling a few months ago. This past June, for example, Apple shares were trading as low as $173.
A hefty tariff on iPhones — perhaps as high as 25% — would certainly eat into Apple’s bottom line. According to some analysts, such a tariff would increase the price of Apple’s top revenue driver by 14%. As such, the price of an entry-level iPhone 11 Pro would have jumped from $1000 to $1,142, though Apple would have likely eaten the increase as opposed to passing along the added expense to consumers.
Notably, strong iPhone 11 demand is also driving Apple’s share price higher. With iPhone sales being somewhat stagnant over the past few years, early reports suggest that Apple’s iPhone 11 lineup is selling a bit better than Apple’s iPhone lineup last year.
To this point, analyst Dan Ives recently noted the following in a research report:
As we get ready for our TMT team to head to Asia in the coming weeks, recent checks over the last few days within the supply chain suggest that indeed suppliers are already getting slight revisions higher to forecasts for the new iPhone 11. It appears half of the upside is currently coming from the iPhone 11 and the other half from the iPhone 11 Pro/Pro Max.
In terms of units, we now believe that the new phones could exceed the 78 million to 80 million range (previously we expected 75 million – 80 million) for the launch period with our bias suggesting 80 million will now likely be exceeded. To this point, we have seen activity in the all-important China region that is “roughly double” from a year ago with XR as it appears the lower price points, dual camera functionality, and added colors is hitting the sweet spot for consumers that have been waiting to upgrade.
What’s more, a number of analysts have released similar notes regarding strong iPhone demand over the past few days.
