A New Era for Apple? The ‘Made in India’ iPhone Takes Off
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Despite numerous obstacles from both Trump and China, Apple’s Indian ambitions appear to be taking flight, with a new analysis showing both production and sales soaring to new heights.
Data from Canalys, shared by Yahoo Finance, shows that Apple’s iPhone production in India increased to 23.9 million units in the first half of 2025. That represents a 53% growth in output from the same period in 2024, and suggests that India could be moving into a leading position to supply iPhones to the tariff-stricken US market.
Apple has been pursuing a “Made in India” strategy for years to diversify its supply chain and reduce its reliance on China. However, that’s kicked into high gear over the past few months, as the Trump administration has levied exceptionally high tariffs on Chinese imports to the United States.
While President Trump has played an on-again-and-off-again game with tariffs against most countries, the levies on China rose as high as 145% in early April. However, the White House backed off by mid-May, reducing them to the basic 10% “reciprocal” tariffs that had been applied to most other countries in April, plus the initial 20% tariff from a March executive order intended to combat fentanyl trafficking.
While the iPhone got an exclusion from the worst of these, likely partly thanks to Tim Cook’s lobbying efforts, that’s not a condition that’s expected to last. From the start, both President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made it clear that the pause on technology-related levies was merely intended to re-evaluate the situation and determine a more appropriate way to tariff these products.
Needless to say, Apple has been working on backup plans in case the cost of shipping iPhones from China becomes prohibitive. There’s already been speculation that some production could move to Brazil, but that country doesn’t have nearly the capacity to meet US demand. Even India, which has had a five-year head start, was expected to have trouble keeping up.
Nevertheless, this latest report looks promising. The Canalys data indicates that India is now contributing close to 17% of Apple’s global iPhone production, and it’s expected to hit 25% by 2027. Apple has also begun producing higher-end models in India, such as the iPhone 16 Pro. An increase in demand for premium smartphones among consumers in India has also led to a significant rise in iPhone revenues, which were up 28% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2025.
It remains to be seen whether this strategy can pay off. Trump has made it clear he’s not a fan of iPhones being built in India, or anywhere else other than the good old US of A. However, most analysts believe that’s a pipe dream due to Apple’s globally complex supply chain. Instead, Apple has been making more practical moves that it undoubtedly hopes will appease Trump and give his administration something in the “win” column, including ramping up US chip production via TSMC and committing to a $500 million investment in US rare earth magnets.
It’s ultimately unclear where US tariffs on India will land, as the two countries are still engaged in bilateral trade negotiations. The Trump administration declared a 26% “reciprocal” tariff on India in April, at the same time it imposed a 145% tariff on China. However, it subsequently walked this back to the basic 10%, extending the deadline to August 1, 2025. So, Apple may pay a price either way. However, Indian tariffs will almost certainly be less than the levies against imports from China, which is considered to be public enemy number one when it comes to trade.
Apple’s third-quarter earnings call is scheduled for next Thursday, July 31, when we’ll undoubtedly hear more about what it’s doing to navigate its global supply chain through the choppy waters of the US tariff wars.
