China smartphone exports to US, including Apple’s iPhone, dive to lowest since 2011

Shipments of Apple’s iPhone and other smartphones made in China to the United States dived to their lowest levels since 2011 in April, underscoring how the threat of US tariffs choked off the flow of big-ticket goods between the world’s two largest economies.

Smartphone exports slid 72 per cent to just under US$700 million last month, sharply outpacing an overall 21 per cent drop in Chinese shipments to the US, detailed customs data showed on Tuesday.

That highlighted the way the Trump administration’s tariffs campaign – peaking with 145 per cent levies on Chinese goods – is disrupting tech supply chains and diverting electronics production elsewhere.

Investors fear a global trade war that would erode some of the US-China bilateral trade that reached US$690 billion in 2024, decimating industries and raising prices for consumers.

Tensions remain high: Beijing this week accused the Trump administration of undermining recent trade talks in Geneva by pursuing sanctions on Huawei Technologies’ artificial intelligence chips.