T-Mobile (TMUS) CEO Mike Sievert said consumers will have to dial up a few more dollars for a new smartphone if President Trump’s tariffs fully kick in and raise costs for producers like Apple (AAPL).
“Tariffs are unpredictable at this point,” Sievert told Yahoo Finance Thursday evening (video above). “Obviously, we’re watching closely. If they come in and they’re significant in some way, that’s going to have to be borne by the customer. I mean, our model isn’t prepared for something like that.”
Sievert’s hot take echoes those from his CEO peers, Verizon’s (VZ) Hans Vestberg and AT&T’s (T) John StanT-Mobile stock fell 5.5% in premarket trading on Friday as the company only reiterated its full-year outlook for post-paid net customer additions. It also missed post-paid phone net addition estimates. The read-through for investors is that the company’s taking a cautious stance on the year amid rising economic uncertainty.key, on their respective earnings calls this week.
Sievert added, “I think what would happen is prices will rise for smartphones,, and then people will slow down their purchases of smartphones, and upgrade rates will slow. Those would be the dynamics that would happen. We don’t see that that is on the way.”