Most iPhones in the US are now manufactured in India rather than China, as Apple works to reorganize its supply chain to avoid tariffs on products imported into America from China.
This strategy would certainly be of great benefit to Apple right now, but there are two reasons why this is just a temporary solution…
Apple is getting closer to its long-term goal
The vast majority of iPhones are still assembled in China, but Apple has been working for several years to increase the number of phones made in other countries. India is the company’s secondary manufacturing hub, with Apple reportedly aiming to do 50% of iPhone production there over the next two years.
The major milestone will be to start manufacturing the latest batch of iPhones on the same date in both India and China. Apple was hoping to do this with the iPhone 16, but it didn’t completely able to achieve this, with the Indian Assembly starting a few weeks late. It looks like this will happen for the iPhone 17.
The company’s incentive so far has been to reduce its manufacturing dependence on China, but the shift in production is now paying huge dividends in light of tariffs on Chinese-manufactured goods imported into the United States.
Most US iPhones are now manufactured in India
Bloomberg Reports indicate that the majority of iPhones for the US market are now manufactured in India instead of China.
India currently accounts for more than a fifth of global iPhone production and has already surpassed China to become the number one supplier of the device to the US market.
But there are two problems
The first challenge that Apple faces is the huge spike in demand when it launches a new lineup of iPhones. It is very unlikely that it will be able to meet all the US demand for the iPhone 17 from Indian production alone.
The second is that the respite from import tariffs may only be temporary. Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on goods imported from India, and although smartphones are currently exempt, this may not continue.
Trump administration in April exempt Smartphones, computers and other electronic devices from reciprocal tariffs, a major reprieve for companies like Apple (…) Trump is known to change his position frequently. After announcing the shock tariffs, he later added that the US and India were still in talks.
While Apple has so far taken a hit with import tariffs, it is unlikely to do so in the long term, so the prices of Apple products sold in the US will likely rise in the future.
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