Apple iPhone 18 with camera sensors from Samsung: Trump tariffs pressure Apple to manufacture in the US

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced that tariffs of 100% would apply to chip imports in the future. In order to secure an exemption, Apple has already confirmed that the glass covers of all iPhones and Apple Watches sold worldwide will be manufactured in the US. As Financial Times reports, Apple also plans to install camera sensors manufactured in the US by Samsung Semiconductor, starting with the iPhone 18.

Samsung's factory in Texas will utilize brand-new chip manufacturing technology, but Apple is yet to provide any specific details. According to information from Financial Times, Samsung will manufacture stacked image sensors with three layers, which are set to make their debut in the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18 Pro. This would mean that, for the first time in the history of the iPhone, Apple would no longer use camera sensors from Sony, which were previously manufactured at a TSMC plant in Japan.

These new camera sensors are part of a plan to invest a total of $600 billion to relocate parts of the iPhone supply chain to the US in order to avoid tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. Apple emphasizes that the components manufactured in the US will be used in iPhones sold around the world. However, there are currently no plans to manufacture some of the most advanced and most expensive components of an iPhone in the US, such as the display or the processor.