Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple will absorb the tariffs and won’t pass them on to the consumers.
Apple could unveil the new iPhone models on September 11
iPhone 11 release date has seemingly leaked. If a comment by SoftBank President Ken Miyauchi is any indication, Apple will start selling the 2019 iPhone models on September 20. If this release date is indeed true, an online report speculates that we might see the official 2019 iPhone announcement on September 10, followed by the opening of pre-orders on September 13. Meanwhile, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said that he believes that the tariffs won't impact the prices of Apple products in US. In a separate investor note, Kuo predicted that the 2021 iPhone models will incorporate both in-display Touch ID and Face ID features.
Starting with the September 20 release date for 2019 iPhone models, SoftBank's Miyauchi seems to have accidentally revealed the sale date for the iPhone 11 models. According to a report by Macotakara.jp, in a conversation with Japanese media, Miyauchi inadvertently revealed that 2019 iPhone models will go on sale on September 20. However, he immediately backtracked, saying he doesn't know when new iPhone will come out. As SoftBank is one of the telecom operators in Japan that sells iPhone models, so it isn't hard to imagine that Miyauchi will have advance knowledge of Apple's iPhone release plans. Based on the September 20 release date, 9to5Mac speculates that Apple may unveil the new iPhones on September 10, with the pre-orders opening on September 13, a week before the September 20 release. This timeline falls in line with how Apple has traditionally gone with iPhone launches in the past.
Moving on to Kuo's comments about tariffs and Apple hardware prices, Ming-Chi Kuo said in an investor note that he believed that “the tariff may not impact the prices of Apple's hardware products” in the United States. Last week, US President Donald Trump had announced a new set of tariffs on China, which were believed to impact Apple products.
Kuo says that Apple will likely absorb additional cost in the short term and in the long-term, the company will leverage production facilities outside China to serve US demand.
In a separate investor note, Kuo has predicted that Apple will bring back Touch ID to iPhone models in 2021. He believes that the 2021 iPhone models will feature both Face ID and under-screen Touch ID.
“Kuo says that over the next 18 months, a lot of technical issues will be resolved which will enable Apple to deliver the high-tier experience it strives for in its devices,” 9to5Mac writes.
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