Framework Halts Sales of Select Laptops in the US Amid Tariff Changes https://www.techpowerup.com/335198/framework-halts-sales-of-select-laptops-in-the-us-amid-tariff-changes (reported by by AleksandarK)
"Framework, the maker of modular laptops, has temporarily halted sales of specific models in the US due to newly imposed tariffs. The move affects the Laptop 13 configurations. The company shared its decision through the official X account: "Due to the new tariffs that came into effect on April 5th, we're temporarily pausing US sales on a few base Framework Laptop 13 systems (Ultra 5 125H and Ryzen 5 7640U). For now, these models will be removed from our US site. We will continue to provide updates as we have them." The tariff adjustment, which raises import duties on goods from Taiwan to 10 percent, directly impacts Framework's cost structure. Originally priced assuming a zero percent tariff rate, the affected devices would now incur losses if sold at current pricing due to the zero-tariff situation in the past. In a detailed follow-up, Framework noted that other consumer electronics firms have undertaken similar recalculations, though few have publicly acknowledged their course of action.
Currently, the Ultra 5 125H model has already been removed from Framework's online store. Other models, such as the Ultra 7 155H and Ultra 7 165H, are for now discounted by up to eight percent, suggesting a temporary price adjustment strategy rather than a complete market withdrawal. Higher end AMD Ryzen 7 7840U SKUs are discounted by 10% and 12%, which is interesting. Framework's situation is just a part of the shift happening across industries triggered by the US administration's recent tariff changes. While Framework's statement leaves the possibility of resumed US sales open, no timeline has been provided. The consequences of the tariff shift are still unfolding across global supply chains."
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11, @04:18AM (1 child)
This will without question bring the nation to it's knees. You can now bet the China teriffs are a thing of the past.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11, @08:00AM
Mod: Wishful thinking
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11, @04:40AM (6 children)
Can they not afford to sell the computer for more money? I don't get it...
Thinking a little bit, maybe it's warranty. Any parts they have to import for warranty repairs: they pay for. If the cost doubles, then damn. OTOH, they've already made many sales, so they *already* have to pay any increase part-cost for any warranty repairs. So.. it doesn't make sense that they would just stop selling.
So why? Why not just set the price at the desired point of profitability? Sales would drop such that they're not self sustaining? (have they tried?)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GloomMower on Friday April 11, @05:57AM (4 children)
At what price when tariffs can change weekly? If they could get a bunch to a warehouse then set the price once they get there for that inventory, but that is not how they operate.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11, @07:24AM (2 children)
At whatever price they like.
At $499. At $1699.
Suppose they bill the current tariff price when an order is placed. If it's not low (lag on lowering your prices..) then the price could be the current tariff price, for which they could import an additional stock item. If they can only sell stock they have, then they're basically selling at a loss now - there's no saying tariffs will go down for them to replinish stock at the lower price. Sell at current price. If you're slow at dropping price and someone pays a higher amount but you end up not owing tariffs on that piece, yay, more profit.
Business is hard? Guess they'd better get out of it.
???
(Score: 5, Insightful) by zocalo on Friday April 11, @10:32AM (1 child)
Also, don't forget that rhose larger companies also likely have more robust supply chains with more options. In the worst case scenario, Framework might only have supplier relationships setup with China for a given component, whereas Dell (say) may have options on getting the same component from several countries that have much lower combined cost+shipping+tariff options than China.
"Business is hard? Guess they'd better get out of it." Yeah, that's quite likely what's going to happen. This is absolutely going to screw over the smaller businesses in the US and leave the mega corps with even more of a stranglehold on the market, and once they're out of business those smaller companies are not going to be able to create any of the promissed manufacturing jobs, are they? Welcome to the new US - government of the serfs, by the oligarchs, for the oligarchs.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 11, @10:42PM
So they choose from the two options :
- put prices up to add the tariff costs and have lower, maybe even zero, sales
- take it off the market and have guaranteed zero sales
Don't know why they would choose the second unless it's a political statement.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by zocalo on Friday April 11, @10:19AM
More importantly for smaller businesses that don't necessarily have supply chain flexibility or large amounts of cash on hand, what happens when the container you had shipped expecting 25% tariffs arrives in the US and they've suddenly gone up to 145% which is more than you can afford, given you almost certainly can't assemble and sell the goods before the tariff payment is due? Every shipment is now a gamble, and the end result is that a lot of smaller US businesses are going to go to the wall before they can restructure, and quite probably some larger ones too. There can't *be* any new US manufacturing jobs created if the company that was going to create them no longer exists.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday April 11, @09:33AM
Before selling, they need to get them across the border. This means paying the (today's) tariff of 125%. Not ifs, no buts - the govt won't release your merchandise until it gets its money - even if the manufacturer agreed to be paid only after the actual sale takes place.
So, whatcha gonna do? Try to sell the damn'd laptop at twice the price and keep your fingers crossed you'll still find buyers?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Troll) by Mojibake Tengu on Friday April 11, @04:53AM (11 children)
Why SN stakes on second-hand information B-rank outlets so often?
Framework explain their new chaotic pricing scheme with all the components origin reasoning here:
https://frame.work/cz/en/blog/tariff-driven-price-and-availability-changes-for-us-customers [frame.work]
We all have a fluid market now, so adapt daily. That's my simple advice to everyone.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by canopic jug on Friday April 11, @05:13AM (1 child)
Why SN stakes on second-hand information B-rank outlets so often?
Indeed. There are many better sources available. PCWorld is considerably more reputable.
However, the closer one is to the original material, the less distortion there is. So why not go with a primary source instead?
One of the reasons why social control media is so complicit in the spread of disinformation is that it takes the opposite approach from sound journalism and proper academic research. In journalism and academia, one seeks to get as close to the truth as possible with the fewest distortions as possible. That means finding the original source for the data and citing that directly when possible. When not possible, one should strive as get as close a connection to the primary source as possible. In contrast, social control media encourages and reinforces building up as long a chain as possible away from the primary source. That allows for errors and distortions to not just get introduced, but also get amplified. In other words, social control media is a giant, digital game of telephone [wikihow.com]
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by corey on Saturday April 12, @03:18AM
Interesting point/take on social “control” media, I hadn’t heard that before. It’s very true. Everyone’s posts that summarise their (mis)understanding of the issue they’re referring to is one additional step away from the truth and original source.
That game of telephone you linked to is a good analogy too. In Australia we (used to?) call it Chinese Whispers. Not sure why. Not sure if it’s changed name for PC reasons.
(Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Friday April 11, @06:57AM (5 children)
Because they are the submissions that the community are submitting. They are relevant to our topics and of interest to some people. Or do you want to provide us with a list of sources that are acceptable to you?
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Friday April 11, @10:00AM (3 children)
meta: About two days ago, when I tried a submission (on actual BSD 2025 events), I got a guru meditation back. I do not wish to be blamed for crashing your servers.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Friday April 11, @10:45AM (2 children)
You haven't crashed our servers :)
I admit that what you saw does happen from time to time, but there is nothing in the logs to indicate why it is happening. Unless we can actually catch it as it occurs it will remain illusive.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday April 12, @03:46PM (1 child)
Well, before this particular incident happened, pages generating was already very slow for a while, with articles content delayed for several seconds.
Like as the server was heavily swapping.
So my best guess is a memory leak, up to the out of memory condition triggering the final meditation.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday April 12, @04:47PM
I would agree but it is not a steady memory leak. I suspect it only occurs during a specific activity - perhaps a backup or whatever. But there is nothing in the logs to indicate where it is occurring or why. Most times it rectifies itself.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by zocalo on Friday April 11, @10:24AM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 5, Touché) by ledow on Friday April 11, @12:08PM (2 children)
You can't "adapt daily" when it takes months for products to be built, assembled, shipped and arrive in a given country.
What you do is either vastly-overcompensate (e.g. 200% on the price to cover any possible eventuality, and even that's a gamble) or don't bother.
The US is just one country. Big, sure, but Framework deals globally and those markets are just fine. Jumping through hoops for one particularly recently-volatile market that could be an enormous risk just isn't worth it.
Like many other places... it's easier just to say "We'll find other buyers"... and then do exactly that. And also bear in mind that that particular buyer was troublesome for the future.
Buyers can't even adapt daily. If your food bill is 50% more than expected, how are you going to cope with that? Not everyone can just say "Oh, I'll take twice the amount of money, just in case". People need to budget, and more than anything POOR people need to budget. And you can't when prices are raising in the course of days, sometimes even hours.
It's exactly like a market of hyperinflation - where that wheelbarrow full of money today was a fortune yesterday and is worth nothing tomorrow. What happens is buyers and sellers alike abandon the official market - they go black market, they use other currencies, they use other suppliers, and they reduce their consumption, and that makes all the problem WORSE because now they're not even using your currency to buy things and not buying as much, and are buying from the "cheapest" place anyway. Zimbabwe found this out, and then tried to ban people trading in US dollars... it didn't work.
You can't adapt daily. What everyone does is go "Oh. Right. It's like that then." and maybe they pay this once, but they see you taint your reputation and avoid ever relying on you in the future. That daily adjustment turns into years or even decades of mistrust - in the markets and on the part of consumers too.
When people stop relying on officially-imported goods, or a certain currency, you have serious problems as a country.
Another name for a fluid market? An unstable one. A risky one. An unreliable one.
When a large company can't import a laptop without just simply abandoning doing business in the US (but are pretty much unaffected everywhere else in the world)... there's an indicator there towards the source of the problem.
(Score: 2) by corey on Saturday April 12, @09:15PM (1 child)
And in today’s news, Donald had exempted computers and mobile phones from the tariffs.
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20250412-trump-spares-smartphones-computers-from-reciprocal-tariffs-us-china [france24.com]
I feel for these businesses having to negotiate their way through all this.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Sunday April 13, @01:14PM
And I assume Framework's ban will still remain in place until they're sure that their imports won't suddenly be hit by unexpected tariffs again.
(Score: 2) by corey on Saturday April 12, @12:23AM (2 children)
I’m saddened for them, I was looking at their laptops recently to replace a 8yr old couch unit, but unfortunately they don’t have any touch screen versions.
I really like Framework, and want them to succeed and prosper. Repairable, quality, upgradable, customisable. Running Linux. Anyway, maybe this is media exposure they might benefit from.
(Score: 2) by corey on Saturday April 12, @12:37AM
Turns out they now have a touchscreen laptop: the Framework Laptop 12.. I learned this by watching the hands on video above. Will look into it!
(Score: 2) by ledow on Sunday April 13, @01:16PM
I'm not interested in touchscreen at all, but that they don't have bigger screens and, more importantly, more than a single GPU module is the killer for me.
I'd buy a new laptop from them tomorrow if they had a bigger screen option and, say, a couple of nVidia GPUs and another model of AMD GPU there.