US President Donald Trump's administration has exempted smartphones and computers from reciprocal tariffs, including the 125 percent levies imposed on Chinese imports, BBC reported.
US Customs and Border Patrol published a notice late on Friday explaining the goods would be excluded from Trump's 10 percent global tariff on most countries and the much larger Chinese import tax.
The move comes after concerns from US tech companies that the price of gadgets could skyrocket, as many of them are made in China.
The exemptions also include other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells and memory cards.
The US is a major market for iPhones, while Apple accounted for more than half of its smartphones sales last year, according to Counterpoint Research.
It says as much as 80 percent of Apple's iPhones intended for US sale are made in China, with the remaining 20 percent made in India.
Along with fellow smartphone giants such as Samsung, Apple has been trying to diversify its supply chains to avoid over-reliance on China in recent years.
India and Vietnam emerged as frontrunners for additional manufacturing hubs.
As tariffs took effect, Apple reportedly looked to speed up and increase its production of India-produced devices in recent days.
Trump had planned a host of steep tariffs on countries around the world set to go into effect this week.
But on Wednesday, he quickly reversed course, announcing that he would implement a 90-day pause for countries hit by higher US tariffs - except China - whose tariffs he raised to 145 percent. Trump said the Chinese tariff increase was because of the country's readiness to retaliate with its own 84 percent levy on US goods.
In a dramatic change of policy, Trump said all countries that had not retaliated against US tariffs would receive a reprieve – and only face a blanket US tariff of 10 percent – until July.
The White House said the move was a negotiating tactic to extract more favourable trade terms from other countries.
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