WASHINGTON - Apple is set to launch its iPhone 17 series. The launch is set to take place in the midst of a global trade war, which has added to the usual excitement surrounding the company's annual unveiling of its most popular product the possibility of a possible price hike.
The new iPhones will be the first to be released since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and initiated a series of tax cuts. The campaign has put Apple CEO Tim Cook in a difficult position.
If Apple follows the same naming scheme since the product's launch in 2007, the new models will be called iPhone 17. But Apple had previously revealed that the free update will be called iOS 26, a reference to the coming year. The new iPhones are still expected to be made at Apple's manufacturing centers in China and India, a concern for the Trump administration.
Both Trump and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have repeatedly insisted that iPhones be made in the U.S. instead of overseas. Analysts say that demand is unrealistic, would take years to meet and would double or triple the current average price of an iPhone.
Since 2020, Apple has priced its basic iPhone at $800 and its top-of-the-line model at $1,200, but analysts believe the company could raise prices by $50 to $100 on some new models.
Whatever price Apple sets for the next iPhone, the new lineup isn’t expected to be much different from last year’s model — the first was designed to feature a slew of new artificial intelligence features.
While the iPhone 16 has proven popular, the model hasn’t sold as well as analysts had predicted because Apple failed to deliver all of those AI-based improvements. 
Forrester Research analyst Thomas Hassan said the relatively minor updates to recent iPhone models are raising questions about Apple’s ability to innovate in the rapidly changing era of AI. “Apple is reaching a turning point, and I expect 2026 and 2027 to be pivotal years.”