Apple Shares Plunge Nearly 7% Since Cook Warns Tariff Could Cost $900 Million in Q3

TMTPOST -- Apple Inc. shares settled around 3.2% lower on Monday, bringing the losses of the iPhone maker to nearly 7% since CEO Tim Cook warned the Trump administration’s tariffs could make a $900 million hit for the current quarter.

Credit：China Central Television

“For the June quarter, currently we are not able to precisely estimate the impact of tariffs as we are uncertain of potential future actions prior to the end of the quarter. However, for some color, assuming the current global tariff rates, policies, and applications do not change for the balance of the quarter and no new tariffs are added, we estimate the impact to add $900 million to our costs,” Cook told analysts on an earnings conference late Thursday.

For the second fiscal quarter ended March 31, Apple had a limited impact from tariffs as “we were able to optimize our supply chain and inventory”, said Cook in a openining brief ahead of the Q&A at the analyst call.

In response to a question about Apple’s iPhone production shift amid tariffs, Cook said the vast majority of Apple products, including iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro, are currently not subject to the global reciprocal tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump announced at the beginning of April. But he didn’t provide detailed prediction beyond June. “I don’t want to predict the future because I’m not sure what will happen with tariffs,” said Cook, adding that “it’s very difficult to predict beyond beyond June.”

Cook told CNBC Thursday that Apple is already sourcing about half of the iPhones for the U.S. from India, and most of its other products for the U.S. from Vietnam, where tariffs are lower than they are from China.

For the June quarter, Apple expected the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. Will have India as their country of origin, and Vietnam to be the country of origin for almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods products sold in the U.S., Cook spoke with analysts on the earnings conference. He added that China would continue to be the country of origin for the vast majority of total product sales outside the U.S.

Apple beat the top and bottom line for the quarter ended March. Revnue rose 5.1% year-over-year (YoY) to $95.36 billion and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.65. Analyst estiamted revenue of $94.59 billion and EPS of $1.62. IPhone brought $46.84 billion that quarter with a 1.9% YoY increase, also better than expected $45.94 billion. China sales still dropped for a seventh consecutive quarter, down 2.3%, despite solid iPhone sales.

Cook told analysts Apple didn’t see “obvious evidence” of a significant pull forward in demand in the March quarter due to tariffs. “If you look at our channel inventory, from the beginning of the quarter to the end of the quarter, the unit channel inventory was similar, not only for iPhone, but for the balance of our products,” he said.