Tariffs on cell phones and other items are eliminated, but there are doubts about the price drop

In the first tranche, in May, tariffs were reduced by half, from 16% a 8%; and this week, will be completely removed. By stopping paying this tax, a similar price drop should occurclose to 8%.

For the Government, high prices discourage access to key technology for education and work and encourage smuggling. Thus, with this new scheme, it seeks to reverse that scenario and advance in the “normalization” of technological prices in the country.

But There are doubts about whether this 0% rate will be transferred effectively to the consumer. And if that happens, hardly immediate or uniform. In the sector, they warn that the final price of items coming from abroad depends on multiple factors.

On the one hand, although tariffs will be removed, they maintain that the tax burden will continue to be highcon 21% VAT and 9,5% of internal taxes, in addition to the rates that vary according to municipalities, among other taxes that will continue in force. Also, logistics costs, exchange rate, financing and margins influence.

Meanwhile, several importers have committed merchandise on its way or about to arrive in the country that paid tariffsby paying in advance, with which they anticipate that the impact will be felt in the coming weeks, when they renew purchase orders.

Likewise, in a context of greater competition, Some distributors have already applied the reduction and others launched strong promotions to fight the growing private purchases on digital platforms such as Amazon y Tiendamia.

In this regard, since MacStation –one of the official Apple resellers in Argentina– explained that this 8% reduction in tariffs has already been contemplated in the pricing policy applied to the launch of the iPhone 17 and the entire line of available iPhones, anticipating the entry into force of the regulations. The decision was adopted from the beginning of its commercialization, with the objective of aligning local prices, they highlighted.

“For this reason, It is not necessary to apply new reductions in this instancegiven that the adjustment has already been made to help consumers access more competitive values ​​since their arrival on the market,” they added.

Regarding consumer behavior, from Maximstore, they highlighted that People did not wait for the tariffs to be lowered to buy. “It does not have as much impact on the individual consumer, it does influence companies more.which require equipment for corporate clients. The demand for the iPhone 17 was strong. Globally, there was little supply and that had an impact in Argentina, but not in Uruguay, where more stock arrived,” they noted.

Likewise, they pointed out that They reinforced promotions. “The recent rate reduction in installments encourages demand. In some categories, we anticipate the declines because we know that the replacement cost will be lower. In the future we are optimistic in the iPhone segment with the reduction of tariffs,” they said.

At the same time, a global factor is added: The global memory shortage due to the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) caused price increases and limits supply, which affects manufacturers.