*By Michael Teich*
Though iPhones and Mac computers made in China have been spared U.S. tariffs, the brewing trade war between Washington and Beijing could finally catch up with Apple, the world's most valuable publicly traded company.
None of the tariffs considered by the Trump administration so far have materially affected Apple's business, but in his third-quarter earnings call with analysts on Tuesday, Apple's CEO Tim Cook said it was too early to predict if other policies under consideration could affect the company's bottom line.
"Our view on tariffs is that they show up as a tax on the consumer and wind up resulting in lower economic growth," Cook said in Tuesday's call.
Mike Murphy of Quartz told Cheddar that consumers' willingness to pay for Apple's most expensive productーthe iPhone Xーis a good sign that even a trade-war inspired bump in prices for its other devices won't deter loyal iPhone users.
"If we have no problem buying a $1,000 phone, we'll probably have no problem buying a $1,100 phone," Murphy said in an interview Wednesday. The iPhone represents Apple's biggest source of revenue.
If tariffs were to hit Apple, they would likely affect the company's fastest-growing division, "Other Products," which includes Apple Watch, AirPods, and the HomePod.
Revenue from other products reached $3.74 billion in the third quarter, up 36 percent from a year earlier. Apple doesn't disclose exact numbers for the Apple Watch, but Cook said sales grew in the "mid-40 percent range."
Apple does not appear worried about the prospect of tariffs dampening its business. The Cupertino-based company delivered fiscal fourth quarter revenue guidance of between $60 billion and $62 billion, topping Wall Street's estimate of $59.47 billion, according to StreetAccount.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/apple-spared-trumps-tariffs-for-now).
The popular online gaming platform for kids, Roblox, is reportedly expanding its offerings into the educational space. Ayal Shmilovich, managing partner at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth Investment Management, joined Cheddar to provide some insight into the report from the Wall Street Journal and how Roblox plans to incorporate the metaverse concept into schools. "I definitely think it helps them expand their market to a much broader audience," Shmilovich added. He also noted that Minecraft has 35 million users on its educational platform and was even more optimistic about Roblox's prospects.
President Biden is under some pressure from members of his own party over rising gas prices. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for the president to utilize oil reserves to lower gas prices ahead of the holiday season, as gas prices are currently at a seven-year high. Energy Workforce & Technology Council CEO Leslie Beyer joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Roblox is getting into education. The gaming platform is investing $10 million into developing educational video games for middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the country. This marks the first time Roblox is putting money into developing games for the platform, and it comes as Roblox also plans to build a stake in the metaverse. Sarah Needleman, technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, breaks it all down for Cheddar.
Russia is being blamed for putting the International Space Station and its crew at risk after it fired a missile during a weapons test at a non-functional satellite. NASA has said that the debris from the explosion could potentially orbit the Earth for decades.
The collaboration platform Slack is launching a massive revamp at its annual customer conference, aimed at creating a more flexible and connected work experience. CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield joined Cheddar to provide some additional details about the digital HQ upgrade.
Bob Sutor, the chief quantum exponent at IBM, joined Cheddar to break down what the tech giant's new 127 qubit quantum processor, dubbed Eagle, will mean for computing. "We've broken through the way to scale these quantum devices to be bigger and bigger and therefore to be more useful," he explained. According to Sutor, quantum computing breakthroughs will provide faster or entirely novel solutions to complex, real-world problems in medicine, the creation of new materials, and even optimizing financial services.
