Most US iPhones are now made in India rather than China, as Apple rejigs its supply chain to avoid tariffs on products imported into America from China.
The strategy will certainly be of significant help to Apple at present, but there are two reasons why this could prove to be only a temporary solution …
Apple getting closer to its long-term goal
The vast majority of iPhones are still assembled in China, but Apple has for many years been working on boosting the number of phones made in other countries. India is the company’s secondary manufacturing hub, with Apple reportedly aiming to achieve 50% of iPhone production there within the next couple of years.
A key milestone would be to begin manufacturing the latest iPhone line-up on the same date in both India and China. Apple had hoped to do so with the iPhone 16, but wasn’t quite able to pull it off, with Indian assembly starting a few weeks late. It looks like this will happen for the iPhone 17.
The company’s motivation to date has been reducing its manufacturing dependence on China, but the shift in production is now paying huge dividends in the light of tariffs on Chinese-manufactured goods imported into the US.
Most US iPhones now made in India
Bloomberg reports that the majority of iPhones destined for the US market are now made in India rather than China.
India currently accounts for more than a fifth of global iPhone production and has already surpassed China to become the top supplier of the device to the US market.
But there are two problems
The first challenge for Apple is the huge spike in demand when it launches a new iPhone lineup. It’s exceedingly unlikely that it could meet all US demand for the iPhone 17 from Indian production alone.
The second is that the respite from import tariffs may be only temporary. Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on goods imported from India, and while smartphones are currently exempted that may not last.
The Trump administration in April exempted smartphones, computers, and other electronics from reciprocal tariffs, in a major reprieve to companies such as Apple […] Trump is known to change his stance frequently. After announcing the shock tariff, he later added that the US and India were still in talks.
While Apple has so far taken the hit on import tariffs, it is unlikely to do so in the long term, so the prices of Apple products sold in the US could potentially rise in future.
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