Trump’s tariffs mean you’ll pay more for all gadgets

If you were wondering how President Trump’s tariffs may impact gadgets like smartphones, laptops, and smartwatches, there’s some bad, and perhaps slightly less-bad news. Unless something changes, Trump’s sweeping tariffs will lead to increased prices for consumers. But it will likely take some time before that actually happens.

Modern gadgets generally aren’t made or assembled solely in the U.S. anymore. Device makers big and small source components from all over the world, and often have them assembled overseas before importing the final product into the country. Given that Trump has levied tariffs on every single country, it means that the cost to make all our devices will inevitably go up.

“The biggest thing right now is going to be the inflationary impact,” says Jason Miller, professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University. “If they stay in place for several months, we’ll start to see those effects by mid-summer and certainly back-to-school season.”

Miller notes goods shipped from China to the U.S. will face a whopping 54 percent tariffs, including most gadgets. Vietnam, where Apple has shifted some of its manufacturing, also has a high tariff rate at 46 percent.

“If [companies] absorb the extra cost and don’t pass it on, their profits are going to plunge and their capital investment will drop,” says Miller. “Or, they’ll pass a good share of it onto the downstream buyer, which in many instances is the consumer.”

Barring any new exemptions or changes, you can expect every single device category to be negatively impacted, says Ryan Reith, group vice president of worldwide device trackers at IDC. But devices will be impacted differently. Smartphones, says Reith, have more wiggle room than TVs or PCs as they have a “well-established monthly hardware payment dependence.”

Miller agrees, noting that it’s not likely that a smartphone will suddenly be 50 percent more expensive. A more reasonable expectation would be a roughly 20 percent bump.

Other devices, like over-the-counter hearing aids, have even thinner margins and are therefore, much more vulnerable.

“Most hearing aids are manufactured in Europe or Asia, and many are assembled in countries like China, ” says Blake Cadwell, CEO of Soundly, an online retailer that sells over-the-counter hearing aids. Cadwell says manufacturers and brands he’s spoken to are anticipating as much as a 25 to 50 percent increase in costs. Those kinds of increases, Cadwell says, could have a lasting impact on consumers.

The slightly less-bad news is that consumers likely won’t see any price increases right away. That’s because some device makers have increased inventory in anticipation of tariffs hitting. Miller says in the past few months, computer imports were over 70 percent higher than 2023, while cell phone imports in February 2025 were the highest since 2022. Cadwell also says Soundly is working to build reserves and that based on current inventory levels, it’s likely price increases won’t hit the market until fall. However, that’s not a guarantee that this is true for every single device maker and every gadget category.

”Vendors/channels have been stretching existing inventory as much as they can to avoid price increases, but close deadlines announced yesterday for tariff increases significantly ramp up the pressure. I’d be surprised if even the best positioned brands in terms of inventory are able to stretch two to three weeks beyond the new tariff deadlines,” says Reith.

In other words, if you currently have an aging piece of tech that needs replacing, it may be a good idea to do it before inventory runs out.

“If you’re looking at a laptop that’s assembled in China, and you’re wondering whether to buy now or wait until the fall, I would buy now,” says Miller.

As for whether these tariffs could potentially encourage Big Tech to restart domestic manufacturing, it’s highly unlikely. Even with these tariffs in place, it’s still cheaper for these companies to manufacture devices like smartphones, laptops, and wearables overseas. And even if they did want to move some industry back home, that wouldn’t be possible overnight. The U.S. has lost a lot of its manufacturing capacity, particularly for consumer electronics, in the last few decades.

Simon Ellis, group vice president at IDC, notes that the firm hasn’t seen reshoring as a high priority in recent supply chain surveys. “It’s also important to remember that ‘made in America’ has almost always meant ‘assembled in America’ with parts coming from all over the world,” he says, while acknowledging it’s possible that a growing number of companies may assess a return even though the cost, uncertainty, and time required are huge hurdles.

Miller is a bit more blunt.

“These tariffs in no way would encourage domestic production of the types of devices that we’re talking about.”