Will Apple’s new iPhones cost more? Here’s what to expect from today’s unveiling

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE Associated Press Equipment Writer Apple on Tuesday will unveil its next line-up of iPhones amid a global contract war that s added a feasible price increase to the usual intrigue surrounding the annual evolution of the company s marquee product The new iPhones will be the first to be published since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and unleashed a barrage of tariffs in what his administration says is an attempt to bring overseas manufacturing back to the U S a crusade that has thrust Apple CEO Tim Cook into the hot seat Related Articles Ford recalling almost million vehicles due to rear view camera issue US tech companies enabled the surveillance and detention of hundreds of thousands in China AI shakes up the call center industry but selected tasks are still better left to the humans Musk s SpaceX spends billion to acquire spectrum licenses from EchoStar Hasbro announces HQ move to Boston If Apple follows the same naming scheme since the product s debut the new models will be called the iPhone But the Cupertino California company lately deviated from tradition with its naming formula for the iPhone operating system When the next version of its iOS system was previewed at its developers conference in June Apple revealed the free update will be called iOS in reference to the upcoming year a marketing technique that automakers have embraced for decades Regardless these new iPhones are still expected to be made in Apple s manufacturing hubs in China and India much to the Trump administration s consternation Both Trump and U S Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have repeatedly insisted that iPhones be made in the U S instead of overseas It s an unrealistic demand that analysts say would take years to pull off and would effect in a doubling or even a tripling of the iPhone s current average price of about Cook tried to placate Trump by initially pledging that Apple would invest billion i n the U S over the next four years and then upped the ante last month by adding another billion to the commitment He also gifted Trump a statue featuring a -karat gold base That kind of diplomacy has helped insulate Apple from Trump s bulk severe tariffs However the iPhones being brought into the U S still face duties of about stoking speculation that the company will reveal its first across-the-board price increase in five years in an effort to preserve its hefty profit margins Since Apple has charged for its basic iPhone and for its top offering but analysts now believe the company may raise prices by to on several of the new models If Apple does announce price increases it will come just weeks after Google held steady on prices for its new Pixel smartphones Whatever Apple ends up charging for the next iPhone the new line-up isn t expected to be much different from last year s model the first to be designed for a wide range of new artificial intelligence features While the iPhone has proven to be popular the models didn t sell quite as well as analysts had anticipated because Apple failed to deliver all the AI-fueled improvements it had promised including a smarter and more versatile Siri assistant The Siri improvements have been pushed back until next year That has lowered the expectations for this year s line-up which will likely include the usual improvements in camera quality and battery life on top of a slightly redesigned appearance The the greater part critical new twist could be the introduction of an ultra-thin iPhone dubbed Air a moniker Apple already slaps on like its sleekest iPads and Mac computers The relatively minor updates to modern iPhone models are raising questions about Apple s ability to innovate in the fast-moving era of AI disclosed Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson Apple is reaching a tipping point and I expect and to be pivotal years Apple s AI follies combined with its exposure in Trump s agreement war have weighed on the company s stock while the region values of Big Tech peers like Microsoft Nvidia Meta Platforms and Google parent Alphabet have been surging Although Apple s stock price is still down by so far this year the shares have been bouncing back in up-to-date months amid signs it won t be as hard hit by the tariffs as once feared and a highly anticipated court ruling cleared the way for the company to continue receiving billion annually to lock in Google s search engine as the default option on iPhones