Apple to Boost Production in India

29 May 2025: Apple has increased iPhone production in India by 60%, assembling $22 billion worth in the past year. Currently, 20% of iPhones are made in India, with exports reaching $17.4 billion. 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.

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. 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.

Trump administration recently announced 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.