Apple's iPhone 17 line-up includes a new ultra-thin model and $100 price hike for Pro model

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple on Tuesday rolled out its next generation iPhones, which include a new ultra-thin model and a slight price hike for one of its high-end models, while the company feels the squeeze of a global trade war.

The iPhone 17 line-up includes a new slimmed-down model that will adopt the “Air” name that Apple already uses for its sleekest iPads and Mac computers. In what has become an annual rite for Apple, all four new iPhone 17 models will feature better cameras and longer-lasting batteries than last year’s lineup. The iPhone 17 will all boast at least 256 gigabytes of storage, doubling the minimum amount from the last generation.

“We are raising the bar again,” Apple CEO Tim Cook boasted in front of a crowd gathered in an auditorium named after the company's late co-founder, Steve Jobs, located on its campus in Cupertino, California.

The new iPhones are the first to be released since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and unleashed a barrage of tariffs, in what his administration says is an attempt to bring overseas manufacturing back to the U.S. — a crusade that has thrust Cook into the hot seat.

All the iPhone 17 models are still expected to be made in Apple’s manufacturing hubs in China and India, exposing them to some of Trump's tariffs.

Analysts believe the additional fees on iPhones coming into the U.S. increase the pressure on Apple to raise prices to help protect its profit margins on its most marquee product.

Without giving a specific reason, Apple will charge $1,100 for the iPhone 17 Pro, an increase of $100, or 10%, from previous versions of that model. The iPhone Air will start at $1,000 — the price of last year's iPhone 16 Pro.

Apple is sticking with the same starting price for the basic iPhone 17 at $800 and the iPhone 17 Pro Max at $1,200.

All four models will be in stores Sept. 19.

Apple's shares closed down 1.5% Tuesday amid gains in the broader stock market, an indication that investors might be worried the company didn't do enough to prop up its profits amid the trade war.

The release of the iPhone 17 Air created the biggest buzz of the day as Apple found a way to pack in most of the punch of its Pro models while coming up with a fetching design that Forrester Research analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee will prod more trend-conscious consumers to splurge on the latest fashion in tech devices. The Air model is just 5.6 millimeters wide compared to 8 to 9 millimeters for the other iPhone 17 choices.

“There were plenty of crackles and one big pop,” Chatterjee said of Tuesday's event.

One of the crackles came with the introduction of new features aimed at the selfie culture. The iPhone 17 models include a front camera with more megapixels for crisper photos, along with an “Center Stage” option that will take advantage of a wider field of view and a new sensor that will enable users to take landscape photos without having to rotate the iPhone.

Although most of the upgrades to the iPhone 17 are similar to the incremental improvements of recent years, Apple appears to have done enough to “bring a sense of newness to the iPhone, which has remained the same for too long,” said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore.

Apple also unveiled its latest smartwatches, including a health tool that is supposed to help detect potential hypertension, and its next generation wireless AirPod headphones.

Apple has been trying to accelerate its growth after several years of lackluster sales growth that has still been enough to maintain its status as a moneymaking machine while raising questions about its ability to innovate. Those doubts, combined with the uncertainties swirling around tariffs, are, one of the reasons the company's market value has dropped by 6% so far this year while the tech-driven Nasdaq composite index has gained 13%.

While the iPhone 16, released last year, fared reasonably well, the models didn’t sell quite as well as analysts had anticipated because Apple failed to deliver all of the artificial intelligence features it had promised, including a smarter and more versatile Siri assistant. The Siri improvements have been pushed back until next year.

“To truly differentiate and outperform its competition, Apple will have to crack AI as a new contextual user-interface,” predicted Thomas Hussan, another analyst for Forrester Research.

The global trade war has compounded Apple's challenges.

Both Trump and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have repeatedly insisted that iPhones be made in the U.S. instead of overseas. It's an unrealistic demand that analysts say would take years to pull off and would result in a doubling, or even a tripling, of the iPhone's current average price of about $1,000.

Cook tried to placate Trump by initially pledging that Apple would invest $500 billion i n the U.S. over the next four years, and then upped the ante last month by adding another $100 billion to the commitment. He also gifted Trump a statue featuring a 24-karat gold base.

That kind of diplomacy has helped insulate Apple from Trump's most severe tariffs. However, with the iPhones being brought into the U.S. still facing duties of about 25%, some analysts speculated the company would raise prices to help preserve its hefty profit margins. But for the most part, Apple and other major smartphone makers such as Samsung and Google are sticking with the same prices as last year.

An Apple Watch is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The iPhone Air is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

An Apple Watch is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The iPhone 17 is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Apple Watches are displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

An attendee takes a closer look at the iPhone Air during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The iPhone Air is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The iPhone Air is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks on stage during an announcement of new products at Apple Park in Cupertino, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Apple CEO Tim Cook holds new iPhones during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The iPhone 17 Pro is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The AirPods Pro 3 are displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Apple Watches are displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The iPhone 17 is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The iPhone Air is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Apple CEO Tim Cook applauds on stage during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Apple CEO Tim Cook waves on stage during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks on stage during an announcement of new products at Apple Park in Cupertino, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks on stage during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Attendees wait inside the Steve Jobs Theater for an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Attendees arrive at the Steve Jobs Theater for an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Apple CEO Tim Cook waves on stage during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers have proposed creating a new agency with $2.5 billion to spur production of rare earths and the other critical minerals, while the Trump administration has already taken aggressive actions to break China's grip on the market for these materials that are crucial to high-tech products, including cellphones, electric vehicles, jet fighters and missiles.

It’s too early to tell how the bill, if passed, could align with the White House’s policy, but whatever the approach, the U.S. is in a crunch to drastically reduce its reliance on China, after Beijing used its dominance of the critical minerals market to gain leverage in the trade war with Washington. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a one-year truce in October, by which Beijing would continue to export critical minerals while the U.S. would ease its export controls of U.S. technology on China.

The Pentagon has shelled out nearly $5 billion over the past year to help ensure its access to the materials after the trade war laid bare just how beholden the U.S. is to China, which processes more than 90% of the world's critical minerals. To break Beijing's chokehold, the U.S. government is taking equity stakes in a handful of critical mineral companies and in some cases guaranteeing the price of some commodities using an approach that seems more likely to come out of China's playbook instead of a Republican administration.

The bill that Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., introduced Thursday would favor a more market-based approach by setting up the independent body charged with building a stockpile of critical minerals and related products, stabilizing prices, and encouraging domestic and allied production to help ensure stable supply not only for the military but also the broader economy and manufacturers.

Shaheen called the legislation “a historic investment” to make the U.S. economy more resilient against China’s dominance that she said has left the U.S. vulnerable to economic coercion. Young said creating the new reserve is “a much-needed, aggressive step to protect our national and economic security.”

Rep. Rob Wittman, R.-Va., introduced the House version of the bill.

When Trump imposed widespread tariffs last spring, Beijing fought back not only with tit-for-tat tariffs but severe restrictions on the export of critical minerals, forcing Washington to back down and eventually agree to the truce when the leaders met in South Korea.

On Monday, in his speech at SpaceX, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed that the Pentagon has in the past five months alone “deployed over $4.5 billion in capital commitments” to close six critical minerals deals that will “help free the United States from market manipulation.”

One of the deals involves a $150 million of preferred equity by the Pentagon in Atlantic Alumina Co. to save the country's last alumina refinery and build its first large-scale gallium production facility in Louisiana.

Last year, the Pentagon announced it would buy $400 million of preferred stock in MP Materials, which owns the country's only operational rare earths mine at Mountain Pass, California, and entered into a $1.4-billion joint partnership with ReElement Technologies Corp. to build up a domestic supply chain for rare earth magnets.

On Wednesday, Trump announced in a proclamation that the U.S. is “too reliant” on foreign-sourced critical minerals and directed his administration to negotiate better deals. He said possible remedies would include minimum import prices for certain critical minerals.

“Reshoring manufacturing that’s critical to our national and economic security is a top priority for the Trump administration,” said Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson.

The drastic move by the U.S. government to take equity stakes has prompted some analysts to observe that Washington is pivoting to some form of state capitalism to compete with Beijing.

“Despite the dangers of political interference, the strategic logic is compelling,” wrote Elly Rostoum, a senior fellow at the Washington-based research institute Center for European Policy Analysis. She suggested that the new model could be “a prudent way for the U.S. to ensure strategic autonomy and industrial sovereignty.”

Companies across the industry are welcoming the intervention from Trump's administration.

“He is playing three-dimensional chess on critical minerals like no previous president has done. It's about time too, given the military and strategic vulnerability we face by having to import so many of these fundamental building blocks of technology and national defense,” NioCorp's Chief Communications Officer Jim Sims said. That company is trying to finish raising the money it needs to build a mine in southeast Nebraska.

In addition to trying to boost domestic production, the Trump administration has sought to secure some of these crucial elements through allies. In October, Trump signed an $8.5 billion agreement with Australia to invest in mining there, and the president is now aggressively trying to take over Greenland in the hope of being able to one day extract rare earths from there.

On Monday, finance ministers from the G7 nations huddled in Washington over their vulnerability in the critical mineral supply chains.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has led several rounds of trade negotiations with Beijing, urged attendees to increase their supply chain resiliency and thanked them for their willingness to work together “toward decisive action and lasting solutions,” according to a Treasury statement.

The bill introduced on Thursday by Shaheen and Young would encourage production with both domestic and allied producers.

Congress in the past several years has pushed for legislation to protect the U.S. military and civilian industry from Beijing's chokehold. The issue became a pressing concern every time China turned to its proven tactics of either restricting the supply or turned to dumping extra critical minerals on the market to depress prices and drive any potential competitors out of business.

The Biden administration sought to increase demand for critical minerals domestically by pushing for more electric vehicle and windmill production. But the Trump administration largely eliminated the incentives for those products and instead chose to focus on increasing critical minerals production directly.

Most of those past efforts were on a much more limited scale than what the government has done in the past year, and they were largely abandoned after China relented and eased access to critical minerals.

Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. AP writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to the report.

FILE - NioCorp Chief Operating Officer Scott Honan tells a group of investors about the plans for a proposed mine during a tour of the site Oct. 6, 2021, near Elk Creek in southeast Nebraska. (AP Photo/Josh Funk, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shake hands before their meeting at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - Workers use machinery to dig at a rare earth mine in Ganxian county in central China's Jiangxi province on Dec. 30, 2010. (Chinatopix via AP, File)