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Tariff Uncertainty Got You Down? I’m Watching 11 Key Products for Price Changes

There’s a lot of bad vibes going around the economy because of tariffs, but for now a lot of consumer prices seem stable.

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.

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. That’s why I’m continuing to monitor several key products you might want or need to buy soon, to keep track of the potential tariff impacts.

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. 

For now, the average price for all of the products we’re covering is down noticeably compared to May, although this might be a result of the various sales going around to kick off the summer. You can probably expect that trend to continue into next month when Amazon holds its Prime Day sale, which I anticipate will be a good time to make a lot of purchases before tariff impacts really start to take hold.

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 about $29 more expensive than usual on Amazon, but we’ll have to wait and see if this is a temporary change or a more permanent shift in pricing.

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.
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Review: The Switch 2 Pro Controller

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The Switch 2 Pro Controller Makes a Comfortable Upgrade, but Still Falls a Bit Short

The new controller feels a little more pro than its predecessor.

The Switch 2 Pro Controller is a standalone controller that pairs with the new Switch 2 and provides a more comfortable gaming experience than the standard Joy-Cons. While it might look similar to the old model, the second-gen controller has a number of new features to help it earn that «Pro» title.

The 2 Pro retails for $85 — a pretty significant jump over the original’s $70. The good news is that, if you want to save some money, the Switch 1 Pro Controllers do work on the Switch 2. Since it’s detached, it’s really more useful when playing docked, connected to a TV. I really like the look and feel of it, but it’s definitely an expensive, unnecessary accessory. 

Both Pro controllers feel pretty similar, which is good since I always felt the original was very comfortable. They’re the same size and shape, and the button layout is mostly the same, but the original has a subtle texture to its grip while the 2’s is smooth. I actually find the new controller a bit more comfortable than the first.

Just like the new Joy-Cons, there is a GameChat button near the bottom, a shortcut to screen-sharing gameplay and forming parties with your friends to video or voice chat together. Keep in mind that you can just pop back out to the Switch main menu and open GameChat manually without needing to hit the button.

Another new feature are back buttons on the underside of the handles, GL and GR. Back buttons — programmable buttons that you can assign to act like other inputs — are pretty standard on pro-style controllers but were absent on the first Switch Pro. For example, in shooters, players will often bind duck or jump so they can perform those actions without taking their thumb off the right stick. 

Mapping these buttons is super easy through the Switch 2’s settings menu or by holding down the Home button and changing them there. These button maps are also saved on a per-game basis, which is great, allowing you to specify which actions you want available on different games instead of needing to adjust back and forth when you swap games. 

The downside is that there are only two buttons, one on each side, like PlayStation’s DualSense Edge pro controller. I would have liked more options, like the Xbox Elite controller’s four programmable buttons. Both those controllers also allow you to swap the buttons’ shapes. Nintendo doesn’t.

Another upgrade on the Switch 2 Pro Controller is a headphone jack on the bottom, which is useful if you’re trying to play games quietly.

Battery life remains the same as the first Pro Controller: Around 40 hours on a single charge, which is definitely on the higher side for controller batteries. In comparison, the DualSense Edge lasts only 5 to 6 hours. The new Pro Controller also charges faster. Nintendo says it takes about 3.5 hours for a full charge, whereas the original Pro Controller takes six hours. 

The large face buttons and analog sticks feel the same, which is good since the original didn’t need improvement. The D-pad, though, feels like it has more freedom of movement and accuracy. This makes hitting diagonal inputs easier to pull off, like in Street Fighter when a special move requires a quarter circle. I found it simply better for adjusting character movement in a 2D platformer, like Super Mario Wonder. 

One of my major complaints is that it still lacks analog triggers. This feature has been on Xbox and PlayStation controllers for years and allows games to sense when you partially press a trigger. It’s important in racing games, for example, where pressing the trigger determines how much you’ll accelerate. But nope, that’s not a thing for the Switch 2 Pro Controller. 

Curiously, the new Pro Controller can’t wirelessly connect it to a PC. Steam doesn’t yet recognize it, though it took a while before the original was directly supported as well. While it’s missing some key pro features compared to Xbox and PlayStation’s offerings, those controllers also retail for around $200, so the price difference makes sense.

The Switch 2 Pro Controller is best for someone who primarily games with the console connected to a TV. It’s an overall improvement on the first one and brings Nintendo closer to what we expect from a pro-style design, but it becomes a harder sell if you already have the original Pro Controller. Many of the new features — back buttons, a headphone jack, quick access to gamechat — are pretty easy to live without, in my opinion. 

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Technologies

This $1,299 Robot Dog Plays Soccer, Dances and Can ‘Evolve’ With AI

The Sirius robot dog goes on preorder Thursday, integrating with OpenAI to develop its «soul.»

After an initial appearance at CES 2025, the Hengbot $1,299 Sirius robot dog is going on preorder Thursday, highlighting an agile body that’s able to play soccer while also integrating with OpenAI to develop its own personality.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

While robot dogs have been around for decades with brands like Sony’s Aibo, Hengbot’s Sirius robot is putting a particular emphasis on how quickly it can move. The company has been showing this off in videos that demonstrate it dancing to piano music or shaking hands next to an actual dog. The Sirius robot has a total of 14 axis across its legs and head along with proprietary joints named Neurocore that let it move more naturally. 

Hengbot says it’s also customizable using a «game-like» editor, featuring the ability to customize the robot’s personality to be more like specific dogs such as a Corgi, set up different facial reactions to appear on its head or upload voice packs to customize what the robot sounds like. 

However Hengbot does note that, because this is a robot after all, the Sirius robot dog is meant primarily for flat indoor surfaces and isn’t meant to be played with outside. So while dancing and soccer games (which can be played with an included controller) are fine, the Sirius robot is unlikely to be running up and down the stairs of a house. The robot’s battery will also let it run for 40 to 60 minutes when moving or one to two hours when standing still and Hengbot says it takes about an hour to recharge. Other specs on Sirius include an 8-megapixel camera used for vision, two USB-C ports used for development and accessories

Using a network connection, the Sirius robot develops it’s personality with an integration with large language models like OpenAI, which it also uses to process voice commands. This can include asking it to dance, sit or to act like other animals like a cat. Hengbot says the dog itself does not collect data but also advises that the Sirius is designed more for adults who would like to use some of the more creative features that the dog is capable of. 

And that distinction is important, as AI is still prone to hallucinations and other mistakes. For instance, last year my colleague Bridget Carey tested a ChatGPT-enabled teddy bear named Poe made by the Los Angeles-based toy maker Skyrocket. The bear created stories using prompts within the app but at launch its vocabulary was rather verbose for young audiences. While Hengbot’s Sirius robot will primarily be dancing, barking and moving about, Hengbot does say that the Sirius robot is eventually intended to integrate with a wider creative platform meant for hosting and sharing different projects.

The Sirius robot is available to preorder on Hengbot’s website and it’s expected to be available this fall.

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