Connect with us

Technologies

ARC Raiders Hands-On Preview: An Extraction Shooter Built for a More Casual Audience

A frantic fight against man and machine, ARC Raiders separates itself from the usual genre fare.

It’s easy to be skeptical about a new extraction shooter in 2025. Escape From Tarkov has locked down the genre in its perpetual closed beta status since 2017, and experimental competitors like The Cycle: Frontier have come and gone in the meantime. That’s not to mention the fact that Bungie’s Marathon is coming out this year, a looming shadow over this hard-core gaming genre.

But Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders is surprisingly accessible to more casual players, and I can see it carving out its own niche within the space. During a 3-hour online preview event where media members were able to get hands-on experience with solo and squad play in the latest beta build, I got a feel for how each run plays out: sneaking around for loot, hiding from or dispatching robot enemies and engaging other players in combat in a mad dash to the remaining exits on the map.

The world of ARC Raiders is perhaps the biggest draw — humanity is overrun by an onslaught of the ARC, a fleet of different mechanized enemies that routinely fall from space. The last remnants of mankind live in the underground city of Speranza, struggling through life and waiting to reclaim the world.

In the meantime, someone has to make the trip up through the tubes to grab crucial supplies left on the surface for the movers and shakers down below. That’s where the raiders come in. Players step into the role of one of a ragtag gang of mercenaries that navigate the arid-but-not-desolate post-post-apocalypse for profit and glory and who are just as likely to gun down the ARC as they are their fellow man to heist a score and bring it back below the surface.

The goals and main progression systems of ARC Raiders are very similar to other extraction shooters in this sense. Whether I was tackling questlines for the vendors in Speranza or building and upgrading workbenches to expand my arsenal, my purpose in each run was to find specific loot (or kill specific bots) to strengthen my character. A persistent skill tree with nodes that increase vitality, mobility and looting speed ensured that I felt like I was getting stronger even when I didn’t make it back underground.

It seems like the end goal is to build up an arsenal strong enough to challenge hulking robotic behemoths — like the ARC Queen seen in the photo above — that are designed as a sort of raid boss that multiple players will need to work together to take down. Even still, there’s a lot to enjoy here for players who never reach this endgame. Unlike my experience with Escape From Tarkov and The Cycle: Frontier, I never had a dull run during my time with ARC Raiders.

High-speed action, changing map conditions and emergent narratives make each run feel unique

Extraction shooters usually encourage slow, methodical gameplay — when you can lose everything in seconds, you carefully calculate every move.

This is less so the case in ARC Raiders. It’s a game where you can crouch, but you can’t go prone, suggesting more of an active play style than hiding for prolonged minutes to avoid making a sound. Instead, you’re encouraged to dodge roll out of danger and take ziplines up and down buildings. Runs are far more entertaining because everyone is constantly being pushed into high-speed player-versus-player-versus-enemy action.

The preview started us in solo runs, bringing in little equipment and setting us loose on each other as we crept in from the edges of the map. From the get-go, I was thrust into combat — the first location I looted in my time with ARC Raiders was a medical facility on the outskirts of a dam. This map has the most flora and color of the three we got to try, and it seems as though it offers the most beginner-friendly experience.

As I rifled through drawers to find fabric, bandages and adrenaline shots, I heard footsteps thudding up the stairway behind me — the game has very strong sound design, and it’ll often clue you into threats before you ever see anything. Footsteps might even be a little too loud in the current build, as you can suss out where someone is crouch-walking if you’re keyed in on a nearby player.

I took up a position behind a computer console, making sure none of my extremities were exposed while preparing an ambush. A flashlight shone across the threshold, scanning the room — a raider clad in black strode in cautiously. I popped out of cover and peppered him with gunfire, but as my bullets struck my opponent, blue sparks emitted from his body. His shield protected him from the brunt of my initial volley, and I began to panic as my magazine ran dry.

Suddenly, alarms blared and the building whirred to life. Our brief exchange had activated the building’s security protocols, and a spherical ARC robot rolled out of a hole in the wall. Flamethrowers extended from pods on its sides, and the new threat lit up the room with wicked plumes of fire as I hightailed it out of there.

When I reached the other side of the building, I held rank in a corner and listened for movement. Thirty seconds passed, then a minute, and I knew I couldn’t stay in one place any longer. Creeping back to where I once fought my fellow man, a low electric thrum indicated that it was a machine that won the day.

I dumped my magazine into the bot, sending it backward into a wall as circuitry and debris exploded from its metal husk. The physics engine is working overtime in ARC Raiders, and every shot that connects with an ARC enemy is rewarded with satisfying mechanical spasms and crunching machinery.

It was only as the death sphere stopped moving and I closed the distance toward it that I found the body of my human opponent, who had been set aflame as I made my escape. He had been roasted mid-retreat, attempting to backtrack to the building’s entrance. I grabbed everything I could carry before setting off toward the dam.

Every run I embarked on built a different tale, with many ending in tragedy like this one. There were other adventures, though, that coalesced in spontaneous camaraderie.

During one run in the spaceport map, I made contact with two other solo raiders over proximity voice chat, joining them on their scavenging spree. We found a weapons crate and divvied up the loot.

I passed a rifle and crafting materials to my newfound teammates, and in return, they handed me a rare horizontal grip for my submachine gun. At any point, we could have turned on each other and turned the affair into a proper bloodbath, but we chose to work together for the best chance to escape with our spoils.

In another run, a sandstorm obscured my vision, so I waited until someone opened up the extraction tube to run up and gun them down. It was difficult to assess the threat level of my surroundings, so I decided to cut someone else’s escape short by mere seconds.

The encounter weakened me, and a sniper’s shot tore me asunder moments later — yet I was able to crawl to the console and extract before my bleedout timer ran out, saving my precious loot in the 11th hour of the match.

These are pulse-pounding moments that define extraction shooters for many players, and it’s what makes the high-stakes gameplay feel so rewarding.

Squad gameplay is just as riveting — I spent an hour navigating the arid alleyways of ARC Raiders’ Buried City with Paul Greveson, a technical artist from Embark Studios, and CNET’s very own David Lumb. As we negotiated a deserted highway overpass and tight urban corridors, it became clear that careful coordination is the key to success in ARC Raiders.

We looted and shared crafting materials that were required for our questlines back home, and watched each other’s backs as the ARC presence increased across the map. At one point, we had 90 seconds to reach a train station before we lost our only path back to Speranza (extraction zones are only available for limited times from the start of the match, and some shutter sooner than others). As we descended the zipline below ground, a large flying ARC unit — the Snitch — spotted me and called nearby gun-toting Wasps to our location.

They descended into the sinkhole, and my team had to fight aerial units in dark, cramped tunnels before we could escape. For an extraction shooter, it was an intensely cinematic moment — it was a peak of urban warfare that reminded me of The Division in many ways.

In other games like Escape From Tarkov, the downtime between these encounters is excruciatingly long — I can set out on multiple scavenger runs in a row without a moment that defines my gameplay session. In ARC Raiders, I feel like something important and exciting happens in every run.

Even though losing your items when dying midway through a run sucks, giving folks these epic stories to chase every time they set out into the world is the secret sauce for retaining players in an extraction shooter — and I think it’s where ARC Raiders stands head and shoulders above the competition. The game even lets you relive your greatest hits after every run, showing off a detailed map with all the places you looted, the ARC enemies you destroyed and the raiders you wounded (or who wounded you).

Even when you’re losing items, you’re discovering and sharing emergent narratives with the other raiders around you. That is what makes every run feel like time well spent.

ARC Raiders eschews common extraction shooter trappings to embrace a wider playerbase

Speed is key to attracting more gamers, and ARC Raiders seems to have stumbled upon a winning formula. Running and gunning feels just as valuable as perching in a sniper’s nest and watching out for unsuspecting raiders, and I was never taken out in a single shot so long as I had a shield equipped.

Even when I was caught off-guard, every engagement I had with another player felt fair — that’s important when your entire inventory of loot is on the line, and I suspect that this higher feeling of player agency will be a massive draw for players who have been turned away by similar games.

Player parity and fairness seems to be one of the core pillars of ARC Raiders’ design, which is unusual for an extraction shooter. Embark Studios is creating a game that seemingly respects your time, even when you don’t make it back to Speranza alive — and if you don’t play the game for hours each week.

In similar extraction shooter games, hardcore players are able to pull ahead early, assembling high-tier armor that low-tier weapons can’t penetrate. They camouflage themselves and wait in corners for half an hour to obliterate any unsuspecting players who wander into the wrong room. Then, they rifle through their belongings and extract the goods.

ARC Raiders disincentivizes this behavior in several ways. The third-person camera view and enhanced mobility mean that a corner camper doesn’t have an inherent advantage in a fight, and there don’t seem to be any pieces of armor that small arms can’t pierce. Equippable shields merely offer different health bar extensions, which will help veterans fare better in combat but won’t outright determine how a fight plays out.

Higher-caliber weapons still serve a purpose, though, since you’ll need certain bullet penetration to take out the roaming ARC robots. There were runs where I avoided the quad-rotor flying Wasp drones and only fought tiny pests like the insectoid Ticks because I was carrying only weapons that used light ammunition.

There are tangible benefits to accumulating a bigger arsenal that make continuing to dive into the world of ARC Raiders feel extremely rewarding, and I ended up eager to play «just one more run» as I discovered how to deal with new challenges.

One of the biggest changes from other extraction shooters will also be a boon to the more casual playerbase: Your progression will stay intact over the game’s lifespan, as Embark Studios doesn’t currently plan to periodically wipe players’ stashed loot. The studio told me that it’s working on several other options to prevent the balance of power from skewing too hard toward endgame players hoarding the highest-tier equipment, but ARC Raiders players seemingly won’t have to worry about losing their hard-earned loot — unless they’re eliminated on the field.

When you’re dealing with a player-versus-player experience, there are variables outside of the core gameplay systems to worry about, too. For one, there’s the inherent lack of balance between squad and solo play. The preview event was structured so that there were designated times for both playing alone and in a three-person squad, but this obviously won’t be the case when the game launches.

Embark Studios plans to primarily limit matchmaking so that lobbies separate solo and squad players, but I was told that solo players could end up in squad player lobbies to ensure good matchmaking times in low population areas or during off-peak hours. It doesn’t feel great to run into a coordinated squad and lose all of your items when you’re by yourself, which could become a thorny issue for players in certain regions.

Other extraction shooters have struggled with cheating problems — rampant cheating played a large role in the death of The Cycle: Frontier and it’s still a massive problem in Escape From Tarkov. When you’ve invested 20 to 30 minutes on a run, it’s demoralizing to get wiped by someone using wallhacks to unload on you before you’d ever have a chance to react.

ARC Raiders has a very fair and generous extraction shooter gameplay loop, but post-launch success will also be measured by Embark Studios’ ability to quash a potential cheating epidemic before it begins. For now, the game is shaping up to be an interesting entry into the extraction shooter genre: With no-risk alternatives like free loadout options and ways to loot and extract without fighting, ARC Raiders welcomes even casual players to brave the threats above ground and reap the rewards.

ARC Raiders is set to launch on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, though we don’t yet have price or release date information for the game, nor details on its monetization strategy.

Related Topics:

Technologies

Your Phone’s a Germ Magnet. How to Disinfect It Properly

Want to keep your iPhone or Android germ-free? Follow these phone cleaning tips.

Your phone goes everywhere with you — on your commute, your lunch break, even the bathroom (don’t lie). But for something that spends so much time in your hands and against your face, it’s probably way dirtier than you think. In fact, studies have shown that the average smartphone can carry more germs than a toilet seat. Yeah, really.

All that touching, tapping, swiping and setting it down on random surfaces adds up fast. If you’re not regularly disinfecting your phone, you’re basically carrying a pocket-sized petri dish. The good news? Cleaning it the right way is quick, easy and doesn’t require fancy gear. Here’s how to sanitize your device safely — without damaging the screen or frying your electronics.. 

The Federal Communications Commission suggests disinfecting your phone daily, but not all cleaning methods are safe. Harsh chemicals and abrasive materials can damage protective coatings and potentially harm your screen. To keep your phone both clean and intact, it’s crucial to use the right cleaning techniques.

We’ll guide you through the best methods and products for keeping your device germ-free, from iPhones to Samsungs, and whatever their level of water resistance may be.

For more cleaning tips, here’s how to clean wireless earbuds and AirPods. 

What are the best products for daily cleaning?

After touching surfaces that see a lot of action from the public — such as door handles, seats on public transportation, grocery carts and gas pumps — you might think you need a heavy-duty cleaning agent to use on your phone. However, you should avoid rubbing alcohol or products made of straight alcohol, since they can damage the protective coatings that prevent oil and water from harming your screen.

Some suggest making your own alcohol-water mix, but getting the concentration wrong can damage your phone. The safest option is using disinfectant wipes with 70% isopropyl alcohol. For daily cleaning, consider a UV light product like PhoneSoap, which kills 99.99% of germs and bacteria. We can also turn to phone manufacturers and cell service companies for guidance, too. 

Apple now approves using Clorox Wipes and similar disinfectants, which was not recommended before the pandemic since they were thought to be too abrasive on the screen’s coating. AT&T advises spraying a 70% isopropyl alcohol solution on a soft, lint-free cloth and wiping your device down. Samsung also recommends using a 70% alcohol solution with a microfiber cloth. Always make sure your phone is powered off before cleaning it. 

What are the best methods for removing fingerprints, sand and makeup?

Sometimes your phone needs a more specific treatment when washing up. The recommended process for daily cleaning may not be enough to remove pesky grains of sand after a beach vacation or tough foundation stains. 

Get rid of fingerprints

Fingerprint smudges are inevitable since your skin produces oils. Every time you pick up your phone, your screen will get fingerprints. The safest way to make your screen print-free is with a microfiber cloth. For a deeper clean, dampen the cloth with distilled water (never apply water directly to the screen) and wipe down the surface. This works for the back and sides of your phone as well.

Alternatively, try a microfiber screen cleaner sticker that sticks to the back of your phone for easy wiping.

Remove sand and small particles

Grains of sand and lint can easily get stuck in your phone’s ports and crevices. To remove it, we recommend you use Scotch tape. Press it along the creases and speaker, then roll it up and gently insert it into the ports. The tape will pull out any debris. You can then just simply throw away the tape for easy cleanup. 

For smaller speaker holes, use a toothpick gently or a small vacuum crevice tool to suck out the debris. These tools work well for other small appliances or hard-to-reach areas in your car too.

Cleanse makeup off your phone screen

When you wear makeup and skin care products, such as foundation and moisturizers, you’ll leave residue on your phone screen. While makeup remover works for your face, it’s not safe for screens due to potentially harmful chemicals. Instead, try a screen-safe makeup remover like Whoosh, which is alcohol-free and gentle on all screens.

Alternatively, use a damp microfiber cloth to clean your phone, then wash the cloth afterward. Make sure your cloth is only slightly wet to avoid soaking your phone in water. 

What if my phone is waterproof?

For waterproof phones (IP67 and above), it’s best to clean the device with a damp cloth instead of submerging or running it under water — even if the phone advertises that it can withstand submersion for a certain amount of time. 

Afterward, dry your phone with a soft cloth, ensuring all ports and speakers are patted dry. While your phone can withstand water, submerging it can lead to water in the ports, delaying charging. Remember, water resistance is meant for accidents, not swimming or regular cleaning.

Things to avoid when cleaning your phone

We’ve already covered why you should avoid makeup remover and rubbing alcohol, but those aren’t a comprehensive list of harmful cleaning agents. Here are a few other items and products you should never use to clean your phone: 

  • Hand sanitizer: Fragrances and ethyl alcohol found in many sanitizers can harm your phone. 
  • Window or kitchen cleaners: Harsh cleaners can strip the protective coating on your phone and leave it more vulnerable to scratches.
  • Paper towels: Paper can shred, making the debris on your phone much worse, and the rough texture can leave scratches on your screen. 
  • Dish and hand soap: Most soaps require you to combine them with water, and since you should keep water away from your phone, it’s best to stick to a damp cloth.
  • Vinegar: Like cleaners and alcohols, vinegar will strip your phone screen’s coating.
  • Compressed air: Blowing intense and direct air into your phone’s portals can cause damage, especially to your mic. Apple specifically warns iPhone owners not to use compressed air.

For more cleaning tips, explore how to clean your Apple Watch. 

Continue Reading

Technologies

Tariff Impacts Are Real: I Found 13 Companies With Official Price Hikes

A popular brand of smart lights is among the latest products to suffer an official price hike in the wake of Trump’s tariffs.

In a lot of ways and for a lot of products in the US, the biggest impacts of President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff plans are still a ways off in the near future. Still, numerous companies have already hiked prices or said that they will be increased in the near future — including, most recently, a popular and CNET-approved brand of smart lights.

The fact of the matter is that tariffs — a tax placed on the importing of certain products into a country — will ultimately cause prices to go up, with Walmart characterizing these eventual price hikes as «inevitable» during its earnings call last month. Given Trump’s push to place historically high tariffs on goods from almost every country in the world, you can also expect these price hikes to hit a huge variety of products.

This truth has begun to sink in for a lot of Americans, if a recent survey conducted by CNET is anything to go by. According to the results, about 38% of consumers feel pressured to make certain purchases before tariffs cause them to go up in price. About 10% said that they had already made certain purchases out of the hope that they’ll avoid a future price hike, and 27% said they had delayed purchases for products that cost more than $500. Overall, these concerns about prices were felt the most around popular tech pieces like smartphones, laptops and home appliances.

To help you keep score, I’ve put together a list of all the companies that have either confirmed or warned of price hikes due to Trump’s tariffs. As other companies make such announcements, you can expect new names to be added here.

Continue on for all those details, and for more, find out why it’s best if you wait on buying a new iPhone.

Best Buy

Without getting into specifics, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry told the Wall Street Journal late last month that it has already raised prices on certain products as part of its response to the tariffs.

e.l.f.

Known as an affordable option in the beauty world, e.l.f. announced in late May that it would be implementing a $1 price hike across its product line in response to the tariffs. CEO Tarang Amin claimed that the reaction from customers was positive, on account of the company’s transparency.

«We’re not trying to pull anything over on anyone,» Amin told Fortune. «This is exactly what we’re facing, and they understand.»

Macy’s

Speaking to CNBC in late May, Macy’s CEO Tony Spring said that price hikes will be implemented on some products due to tariffs, while also emphasizing that other tactics — like discontinuing certain products altogether — will also be a response to rising costs.

Mattel

Known for brands like Barbie and Hot Wheels, Mattel sounded the alarm over likely price increases during an early May earnings call. While it’s unclear how much the toymaker’s prices have increased since then, the company told investors that it would be, «where necessary, taking pricing action in its US business,» or to put it plainly, raising prices for consumers to mitigate the impact of tariffs.

Nikon

Camera-maker Nikon will introduce price hikes in response to Trump’s tariffs, effective June 23. This move will only target lenses and accessories the company makes and sells, so the cameras themselves are safe for now.

«We will be carefully monitoring any tariff developments and may adjust pricing as necessary to reflect the evolving market conditions,» a statement from Nikon explained. «We wish to thank our customers for their understanding and know that we are taking every possible step to minimize the impact on our community.»

Philips Hue

Parent company Signify announced that prices for its popular and highly regarded Philips Hue brand of smart lights will see price hikes effective July 1. The company also confirmed that this decision was made «as a direct result of tariffs.»

«Signify reserves the right to modify prices based on new or additional tariffs becoming effective in the future,» the company’s official statement explained. 

Ralph Lauren

Sales at the luxury goods retailer Ralph Lauren have apparently remained steady amid recent uncertainty, but the company is still forging ahead with a plan to combat tariff impacts by raising prices more than it had already intended to, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Shein and Temu

Trump’s tariffs have made a notable target of China, hitting the country with a 30% rate only after initially hiking it all the way to 145%. Online retailers like Shein and Temu rely on direct shipments from markets like China in order to offer the rock-bottom prices that made them famous, so it’s little surprise now that they’ve had to raise prices.

The Trump administration has furthered the issues faced by these companies by doing away with a rule known as the «de minimus» exception, which used to exclude smaller purchases under $800 from import taxes. With that rule gone, Trump’s China tariffs will now apply to both bulk orders of industrial building materials and those shoes you’ve been looking to buy from Shein.

Subaru

Subaru has hiked prices across almost its entire line. The increase ranged from $750 to $2,055, depending on the model, with only the EV Solterra avoiding any change.

As has become a trend with some companies, Subaru avoided attributing the price hikes to Trump’s tariffs, citing only the common refrain of «market conditions.» Trump has notably disparaged companies that explicitly lay the blame for price hikes on his policies.

«The changes were made to offset increased costs while maintaining a solid value proposition for the customer. Subaru pricing is not based on the country of origin of its products,» a Subaru spokesperson said in a statement to Car & Driver.

Stanley Black & Decker

In an earnings report published April 30, toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker addressed «Price Actions in Response to US Tariffs,» stating that it had «implemented an initial price increase in April and notified our customers that further price action is required,» and was also looking into ways to shift its supply lines to minimize the impact of tariffs.

Volvo

The price impact of tariffs at Swedish automaker Volvo are confined, for now, to just one model: the electric EX30. Initially it was set to start at $34,950 in the US — a competitive price for an EV — but tariffs targeted at imported cars forced the company to raise the price to $46,195, a 32% bump.

Walmart

The biggest grocery chain in the US, Walmart is perhaps the most prominent company yet to announce imminent price hikes due to Trump’s tariffs. During the company’s earnings call in May, CEO Doug McMillan said price hikes would begin by the end of May and impact things like food, electronics and toys.

For more, see why buying refurbished tech helps you dodge tariffs and helps the planet.

Continue Reading

Technologies

As Tariffs Have Consumers Worried, Here’s What I’ve Found Watching Key Products for Price Hikes

There’s a lot of concern and uncertainty going around the economy amid Trump’s tariff plans, prompting a lot of early purchases to avoid price hikes.

For CNET’s tariff price tracker, I’ve been keeping tabs on several key products we suspect will be vulnerable to President Donald Trump’s contentious tariff policies, watching their price moves every day for possible long-term price hikes. 

For the most part, prices for these items have remained steady in the last few weeks, aside from notable increases for the Xbox Series X and a budget-friendly 4K TV. A few have also gone on sale for brief periods, but as of now, they’ve all mostly reverted back to normal — though you should expect the sale prices to return as Prime Day approaches in July, a good time overall to make purchases that might get more expensive later.

With all that said, the broader impact of these import taxes is still on the horizon, especially as Trump now claims that tariff rates against China are going back up to 55% soon. The Trump administration has also been working to undo a trade court ruling, which found that Trump has no authority to set tariffs as he has been — a move now being argued before an appeals court. We’ll see how that ultimately plays out, but for now, the possibility that the president’s tariff policies will lead to price hikes remains likely. 

CNET Tariff Tracker Index

Above, you can check out a chart with the average price of the 11 products included in this piece over the course of 2025. This will help give you a sense of the overall price changes and fluctuations going on. Further down, you’ll be able to check out charts for each individual product being tracked. 

We’ll be updating this article regularly as prices change. It’s all in the name of helping you make sense of things, so be sure to check back every so often. For more, check out CNET’s guide to whether you should wait to make big purchases or buy them now and get expert tips about how to prepare for a recession.

Methodology

We’re checking prices daily and will update the article and the relevant charts right away to reflect any changes. The following charts show a single bullet point for each month, with the most recent one labeled «Now» and showing the current price. For the past months, we’ve gone with what was the most common price for each item in the given month. 

In most cases, the price stats used in these graphs were pulled from Amazon using the historical price-tracker tool Keepa. For the iPhones, the prices come from Apple’s official materials and are based on the 128-gigabyte base model of the latest offering for each year: the iPhone 14, iPhone 15 and iPhone 16. For the Xbox Series X, the prices were sourced from Best Buy using the tool PriceTracker. If any of these products happen to be on sale at a given time, we’ll be sure to let you know and explain how those price drops differ from longer-term pricing trends that tariffs can cause.

The 11 products we’re tracking

Mostly what we’re tracking in this article are electronic devices and digital items that CNET covers in depth, like iPhones and affordable 4K TVs — along with a typical bag of coffee, a more humble product that isn’t produced in the US to any significant degree. 

The products featured were chosen for a few reasons: Some of them are popular and/or affordable representatives for major consumer tech categories, like smartphones, TVs and game consoles. Others are meant to represent things that consumers might buy more frequently, like printer ink or coffee beans. Some products were chosen over others because they are likely more susceptible to tariffs. Some of these products have been reviewed by CNET or have been featured in some of our best lists.

Below, we’ll get into more about each individual product, and stick around till the end for a rundown of some other products worth noting.

iPhone 16

The iPhone is the most popular smartphone brand in the US, so this was a clear priority for price tracking. The iPhone has also emerged as a major focal point for conversations about tariffs, given its popularity and its susceptibility to import taxes because of its overseas production, largely in China. Trump has reportedly been fixated on the idea that the iPhone can and should be manufactured in the US, an idea that experts have dismissed as a fantasy. Estimates have also suggested that a US-made iPhone would cost as much as $3,500.

Something to note about this graph: The price listed is the one you’ll see if you buy your phone through a major carrier. If you, say, buy direct from Apple or Best Buy without a carrier involved, you’ll be charged an extra $30, so in some places, you might see the list price of the standard iPhone 16 listed as $830.

Apple’s been taking a few steps to protect its prices in the face of these tariffs, flying in bulk shipments of product before they took effect and planning to move production for the US market from China to India. A new Reuters report found that a staggering 97% of iPhones imported from the latter country, March through May, were bound for the US. This latter move drew the anger of Trump again, threatening the company with a 25% tariff if they didn’t move production to the US, an idea CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly shot down in the past. This came after Trump gave a tariff exemption to electronic devices including smartphones, so the future of that move seems in doubt now.

Apple’s flagship device is still the top-selling smartphone globally, as of Q1 of this year, although new research from the firm Counterpoint suggests that tariff uncertainty will cause the brand’s growth to stall a bit throughout the rest of 2025.

Duracell AA batteries

A lot of the tech products in your home might boast a rechargeable energy source but individual batteries are still an everyday essential and I can tell you from experience that as soon as you forget about them, you’ll be needing to restock. The Duracell AAs we’re tracking are some of the bestselling batteries on Amazon.

Samsung DU7200 TV

Alongside smartphones, televisions are some of the most popular tech products out there, even if they’re an infrequent purchase. This particular product is a popular entry-level 4K TV and was CNET’s pick for best overall budget TV for 2025. Unlike a lot of tech products that have key supply lines in China, Samsung is a South Korean company, so it might have some measure of tariff resistance. This model was most recently listed on Amazon at $421, up from the $400 price tag it’s hovered around for most of the year.

Xbox Series X

Video game software and hardware are a market segment expected to be hit hard by the Trump tariffs. Microsoft’s Xbox is the first console brand to see price hikes — the company cited «market conditions» along with the rising cost of development. Most notably, this included an increase in the price of the flagship Xbox Series X, up from $500 to $600. Numerous Xbox accessories also were affected and the company also said that «certain» games will eventually see a price hike from $70 to $80.

Initially, we were tracking the price of the much more popular Nintendo Switch as a representative of the gaming market. Nintendo has not yet hiked the price of its handheld-console hybrid and stressed that the $450 price tag of the upcoming Switch 2 has not yet been inflated because of tariffs. Sony, meanwhile, has so far only increased prices on its PlayStation hardware in markets outside the US.

AirPods Pro 2

The latest iteration of Apple’s wildly popular true-wireless earbuds are here to represent the headphone market. Much to the chagrin of the audiophiles out there, a quick look at sales charts on Amazon shows you just how much the brand dominates all headphone sales. For most of the year, they’ve hovered around $199, which is a notable savings on its list price of $249.

HP 962 CMY printer ink

This HP printer ink includes cyan, magenta and yellow all in one product and recently saw its price jump from around $72 — where it stayed for most of 2025 — to $80, which is around its highest price over the last five years. We will be keeping tabs to see if this is a long-term change or a brief uptick.

This product replaced Overture PLA Filament for 3D printers in this piece, but we’re still tracking that item.

Anker 10,000-mAh, 30-watt power bank

Anker’s accessories are perennially popular in the tech space and the company has already announced that some of its products will get more expensive as a direct result of tariffs. This specific product has also been featured in some of CNET’s lists of the best portable chargers. 

Bose TV speaker

Soundbars have become important purchases, given the often iffy quality of the speakers built into TVs. While not the biggest or the best offering in the space, the Bose TV Speaker is one of the more affordable soundbar options out there, especially hailing from a brand as popular as Bose. 

Oral-B Pro 1000 electric toothbrush

They might be a lot more expensive than their traditional counterparts but electric toothbrushes remain a popular choice for consumers because of how well they get the job done. I know my dentist won’t let up on how much I need one. This particular Oral-B offering was CNET’s overall choice for the best electric toothbrush for 2025.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook

Lenovo is notable among the big laptop manufacturers for being a Chinese company making its products especially susceptible to Trump’s tariffs.

Starbucks Ground Coffee (28-ounce bag)

Coffee is included in this tracker because of its ubiquity —I’m certainly drinking too much of it these days —and because it’s uniquely susceptible to Trump’s tariff agenda. Famously, coffee beans can only be grown within a certain distance from Earth’s equator, a tropical span largely outside the US and known as the «Coffee Belt.» 

Hawaii is the only part of the US that can produce coffee beans, with data from USAFacts showing that 11.5 million pounds were harvested there in the 2022-23 season — little more than a drop in the mug, as the US consumed 282 times that amount of coffee during that period. Making matters worse, Hawaiian coffee production has declined in the past few years.

All that to say: Americans get almost all of their coffee from overseas, making it one of the most likely products to see price hikes from tariffs.

Other products

As mentioned before, we occasionally swap out products with different ones that undergo notable price shifts. Here are some things no longer featured above, but that we’re still keeping an eye on:

  • Nintendo Switch: The baseline handheld-console hybrid has held steady around $299 most places — including Amazon — since it released in 2017. Whether or not that price will be impacted by tariffs or the impending release of the Switch 2 remains to be seen. This product was replaced above with the Xbox Series X.
  • Overture PLA 3D printer filament: This is a popular choice on Amazon for the material needed to run 3D printers. It has held steady around $15 on Amazon all year. This product was replaced above by the HP 962 printer ink.

Here are some products we also wanted to single out that haven’t been featured with a graph yet:

  • Razer Blade 18 (2025), 5070 Ti edition: The latest revision of Razer’s largest gaming laptop saw a $300 price bump recently, with the base model featured an RTX 5070 Ti graphics card now priced at $3,500 ahead of launch, compared to the $3,200 price announced in February. While Razer has stayed mum about the reasoning, it did previously suspend direct sales to the US as Trump’s tariff plans were ramping up in April.
  • Asus ROG Ally X: The premium version of Asus’s Steam Deck competitor handheld gaming PC recently saw a price hike from $799 to $899, coinciding with the announcement of the company’s upcoming Xbox-branded Ally handhelds.
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Verum World Media