Apple has continued its reliance on India to diversify away from China, as it assembled $22 billion worth of iPhones in the last 12 months, according to a Bloomberg report. The Tim Cook-led company has increased iPhone production in India by around 60% and now assembles 20% of its total iPhones in the country.
The report comes after India’s IT and Electronics Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw revealed earlier this week that Apple exported 1.5 trillion rupees (about $17.4 billion) of iPhones made in India in the fiscal year ending March 2025.
Where are iPhones made in India?
Apple currently has three iPhone assembly plants in India, two in Tamil Nadu and one in Karnataka. One of the plants in Tamil Nadu is operated by Foxconn, while Apple’s other two plants are operated by the Tata Group.
Apple has also encouraged its suppliers from China, Japan, Taiwan and other countries to set up manufacturing facilities in India. Major suppliers that have started manufacturing in India include Sunwoda (battery packs), Foxlink (cables) and Aequs (enclosures).
Apple has been busy expanding its supply ecosystem in India over the past few years. According to an earlier report, Apple’s local content for various models was around 5-8% when it started manufacturing in India at the start of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in 2020, but this has now jumped to around 20% for various models.
Notably, the tech giant had been assembling the vanilla iPhone 15 variant in India but last year it doubled down on its manufacturing efforts in India and also started assembling iPhone 16 Pro models.
Impact of Trump tariffs:
As per a Bloomberg report, Apple’s iPhone shipments from India to the US have surged after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs. The Cupertino-based tech giant is also expected to prioritise iPhones from its Indian supply chain for its US customers.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced on Saturday that smartphones, computers and other electronic devices would be exempt from its reciprocal tariffs. This means that iPhones made in India will not face additional tariffs for now, while iPhones made in China will also get a reprieve with a lower tariff of 20% compared to the total 145% tariff levied by the US government.