Ask HN: Are Apple's price hikes a cash grab or preemption of future US tariffs? - schappim
======
askafriend
It could be because of various increased
component/research/development/operational costs, among other things.

For reference, here are their margins over the years:
[https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/gross_profit_margin](https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/gross_profit_margin)

------
eaandkw
Honestly I think that Apple will keep increasing the price until it hurts
their bottom line. And why wouldn't they want to do that. They are accountable
to their shareholders not the consumer.

~~~
cimmanom
Of course, unless they know exactly where they are on the demand curve, how
would they know whether it’s negatively affecting their bottom line?

~~~
eaandkw
I'm sure they have some smart people working on that and what the people would
tolerate. It's kind of like boiling a frog. If the temperature increases too
much the frog jumps out. If you do it slowly the frog stays in and eventually
dies.

On second thought that may not be the best analogy but it's close. As far as
the demand curve goes they can just judge things by sales. If the price
increase off-sets the loss of sales but increases revenue then they would keep
doing it. If not they will stop.

------
jryan49
I don't think a 10% tariff would account for the entire increase. It may be
part of it though.

