Apple Wants to Source all iPhones Sold in the US from India

According to a media source on April 25, Apple intends to move the assembly of all iPhones sold in the US to India by the end of the year. President Donald Trump's renewed tariff threats on Chinese imports are the driving force behind this daring effort.

The initiative is a component of a larger goal to diversify Apple's supply chain away from China, which continues to control the majority of the tech giant's production facilities. If this change is successful, India's current output of iPhones would double to nearly 60 million units per year by 2026.

US the Most Important Market for iPhone

Apple's most significant market is the United States. According to IDC, it made up about 28% of the company's worldwide iPhone shipments in 2024. International Data Corporation (IDC) is the world's leading provider of market intelligence, data, and events for the consumer technology, telecommunications, and information technology sectors.

 In addition to helping Apple avoid high tariffs, shifting the manufacturing of iPhones headed for the US out of China lowers the long-term geopolitical risk associated with US-China ties. The change is a direct response to Trump's "reciprocal tariff" policy.

His government attacked China with tariffs that included a 20% charge on smartphones and once reached as high as 145%. Even if phones and other electronics were recently spared, the comfort seems to be short-lived.

Additionally, Trump has proposed additional taxes targeted at goods with a lot of semiconductors, which may affect Apple's whole product range.

iPhone Production in India

According to a media agency's estimate, Apple produced $22 billion worth of iPhones in India in the fiscal year that ended in March 2025, a 60% increase over the previous year. India currently supplies 20% of the world's iPhones, a percentage that is expected to rise quickly.

Along with Tata Electronics, which purchased Wistron's business and currently manages Pegatron's production, the majority of its production is housed at Foxconn's expansive campus in Tamil Nadu.

Apple's production strategy, which had been mostly focused on China for almost 20 years, is now at a turning point. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration in India is assisting in paving the road. Apple may profit from new $2.7 billion subsidy programmes intended to increase semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, as well as production-linked incentives.

But there are still difficulties. Even though iPhone assembly is the last step in the manufacturing process, Apple still gets a lot of its componentry from Chinese vendors. According to experts, it might take years to move the entire supply chain.

It might take up to eight years to shift only 10% of Apple's manufacturing out of China. Additionally, the change goes against Trump's stated insistence that businesses "bring jobs home".

According to analysts, India is a better option because the US lacks the infrastructure and labour force necessary to sustain mass iPhone manufacture.