(BFM Stock Exchange) – The company delivered results overall better than expected in the second quarter of its financial year 2024-2025, with in particular iPhone sales up 2% in value. But the group saw its income back in China and the director general, Tim Cook, quantified at 900 million dollars, as it stands, the impact of customs duties on the cost of the company for the current quarter.

Apple was one of the most obvious victims of customs surcharge announced by Donald Trump. This because of its heavy manufacturing exposure to China. According to the search firm Counterpoint, 80% of iPhone for the American market are assembled in China, the remaining 20% ​​from India. However, the customs surcharge provided by Washington against China amounted to 145%.

Tim Cook, Apple Managing Director, has managed to obtain an exemption from the Trump administration for electronic products such as laptops or smartphones, for whom additional Chinese customs duties would fall from 145% to 20%.

But this exemption may only be temporary. In addition, the Trump administration also plans to impose surcharge on imports of semiconductors, which is still likely to hit Apple’s profitability.

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Faced with these risks, Apple intends to increase its industrial footprint in the United States. During the conference with analysts according to the presentation of the quarterly results, Tim Cook recalled that the company intended to spend $ 500 billion in this perspective in the next four years. The manager also indicated that the company was going to obtain a flea in the United States in “ten states”, with no less than 19 billion semiconductors which will be sent in 2025.

But relocating production to the United States would cost expensive. Bank of America estimated that the iPhone could see its prices jump by more than 90%, under certain conditions, if the phone was produced in the United States.

Since the start of the year, Apple action has dropped by 15% due to these uncertainties linked to customs duties. The group had the opportunity to reassure the market with its second quarter results of its 2024-2025 financial year.

But, unlike Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft, whose publications proved to be reassuring or even vibrant for that of Microsoft, Apple A has not managed to pack Wall Street.

Failed on China

Apple action ended 3.8% in post-cloth exchanges on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday evening. And this despite figures qualified as “solid” by Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush.

The apple group has overall exceeded expectations, with revenues up 5% to $ 95.4 billion and profit per share up 8% to 1.65 dollars. Iphone sales income also increased by 2% in the quarter to reach $ 46.84 billion.

According to a visible alpha consensus, analysts were tabling on revenues of $ 94.3 billion, a profit per share of $ 1.62 and $ 45.8 billion income for iPhone sales.

Once again the black point, of the publication remains China, where the income of the company fell 2.2% to $ 16 billion. Bloomberg evokes expectations lodged at $ 16.8 billion. Apple recently lost ground against its rivals in China, such as Huawei and Xiaomi.

Recall that the group has not yet deployed its own artificial intelligence (AI) in the country, thus reducing the attraction of its latest model, the iPhone 16. This phone has found itself in frontal competition in China with Android smartphones, which already present important AI features.

The income generated by the services (the App Store, Apple Music) also slightly disappointed with income of $ 26.65 billion against a consensus located at $ 26.70 billion.

Beyond the figures proper, the subject of customs duties quickly returned to haunt Apple’s publication. During the call conference with analysts, Tim Cook risked quantifying the impact of current customs from customs, evoking a surplus of $ 900 million on the cost of the company during the current quarter, closed in late June. The manager, however, recognized that it was “impossible to assess precisely” the impacts because “we are not sure of the future actions” which will be implemented.

Cap to India for American production

Questioned by an analyst, Tim Cook confirmed that the majority of iPhone sold in the United States will be produced in India in the third quarter of his exercise, while MACs and other products will be manufactured in Vietnam. China will remain the large country of origin for Apple articles sold outside the United States.

But Tim Cook could not give much more indications beyond the third quarter of the company, closed in June.

“I think that the uncertainties on what will happen beyond quarter enclosed in June are at the origin of the suffering of the Apple action at Wall Street (…) Six of the twenty questions of analysts at the conference focused on the perspectives beyond this horizon, and none found a final answer”, judged Gene Munster, manager at Deepwater Am, in a video posted on X. nervousness in investor projections, “he adds.

“The elephant in the room remains the tariff tornado, Apple and Cook being caught in the eye of the cyclone,” comments Dan Ives. “We learned during the conference call that India will be the ” ‘lifeline supply chain’ which should help Apple sail in this unprecedented tense environment in China,” he adds.

A sign, perhaps the prudence of the company, Apple has announced a new action program program, a total of $ 100 billion, which represents a drop of $ 10 billion compared to the share buy-back program that had been announced a year ago, Reuters notes.

Regarding the financial prospects for the second quarter, Apple’s financial director Kevan Parekh said the company was tabling on growth “low to mid-single digit”, which can be roughly translated by 1% to 6%, for the third quarter.