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 the manufacturing of iPhones in India by around 60%, and now 20% of overall made iPhones are assembled in the country.
Prior to this report, India’s IT and Electronics minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had also revealed earlier in the week that Apple exported ₹1.5 trillion (around $17.4 billion) in iPhones made in India during the financial 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 units in India. Top suppliers that have started manufacturing in India include Sunwoda (battery packs), Foxlink (cables) and Aequs ( enclosures).
Apple has been busy in expanding its India supply ecosystem over the last few years. Previous report suggest that, Apple’s local value addition for various models was around 5-8% when it started manufacturing in India at the start of production linked incentive (PLI) scheme in 2020 but that has now risen sharply to a around 20% for various models.
Notably, the tech giant had assembled the vanilla iPhone 15 variant in India but last year it doubled down on the India manufacturing effort and also started the assembly of iPhone 16 Pro models.
Impact of Trump tariffs:
As per the 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 on Saturday announced the exemption of smartphones, computers and other electronic devices 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.
