Tax and tariff reduction on cell phones: What will the iPhone cost after the government's announcement?

The government announced a series of tax measures on Tuesday that will impact the price of cell phones , especially high-end ones like the iPhone .

The plan includes the gradual elimination of import tariffs and a sharp reduction in domestic taxes , with an official projection of a 30% drop in consumer prices.

The decree with the details will be published in the Official Gazette between Thursday and Friday. According to the Ministry of Economy, the 16% tariff currently applied to imported phones will be halved as soon as the regulations come into force and will be completely eliminated by January 2026 .

In addition, the internal tax will be reduced from 19% to 9.5% for imported cell phones, televisions, and air conditioners . At the same time, products manufactured in Tierra del Fuego will be exempt: the tax will drop from 9.5% to 0%.

The tariff on video game consoles will also be reduced from 35% to 20%, and the use of courier services will be enabled, which promises improved logistics and more competitive prices.

The most visible impact will be on premium phones . Today, an iPhone 16 costs between $799 and $829 in the United States , depending on the model.

In Argentina , the same equipment sells for between 1,900,000 and 2,200,000 pesos , which is more than double the price if the Mexican peso is used as a reference. Part of this difference is explained by a tax burden that, until now, reached 66%, according to private estimates.

With the announced price reduction, the government estimates that a high-end 5G smartphone , which costs around $2,566 in the local market, will now cost around $1,800 . This would bring it closer to regional prices.

In practice, and taking current prices, the MacStation store—one of Apple's official resellers in Argentina—projects that a 256 GB iPhone 16 Pro Max , which currently sells for $2,630,000, would drop to $2,288,000 with the first stage of the reform.

By January, without the tariff, that price would fall to $2,138,000 . The total reduction would be close to 19% , not including any inflation that may occur during the period. Still, it would still be far from the US price , where the same model sells for $1,200.

The reduction will also benefit those who purchase equipment abroad through platforms like Amazon and import it via courier services. Until now, these devices were subject to not only tariffs but also a combined tax that included VAT , profit and gross income tax , which inflated the final value by up to 100% compared to the international price.

The Ministry of Economy points out that this price gap had negative effects , from discouraging access to key technology for education and work to encouraging smuggling and cell phone theft . With this new scheme, the government seeks to reverse this situation and take a step toward the "normalization" of technology prices in the country.

Although details remain to be confirmed and it remains to be seen how the changes will be reflected in final prices, the measure represents a significant shift in technology tax policy in Argentina. And in a market where cell phones have become essential tools, any price reduction will be felt in people's pockets.