India iPhone Exports Leap 33% as Apple Continues to Reduce Its Reliance on China
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Manufacturing exports of iPhones from India totaled nearly $6 billion in the six months through September, an impressive 33% increase compared to the same period last year. According to a Bloomberg report, the growth puts Apple on track to beat its fiscal 2024 target of $10 billion in exports from the region.
The increase in Indian exports results from Apple’s expansion of its manufacturing facilities in the country. The Cupertino firm has taken advantage of the country’s skilled labor, local subsidies, and improving technological infrastructure. Three of Apple’s main assembly partners (Foxconn, Pegatron, and Tata Electronics) have facilities in the country that now produce iPhone 15 Pro models.
Foxconn’s Chennai-based facility provides the most significant number of exports, accounting for half of the iPhones coming from India. Meanwhile, Tata Electronics acquired the former Winstron manufacturing facility last year, and its Karnataka factory exported around $1.7 billion in iPhones from April to September.
Apple’s iPhone manufacturing exports from India have significantly benefited the country’s export numbers. Smartphones have become India’s top export to the United States, reaching $2.88 billion in the first five months of the fiscal year. Those numbers are quite an impressive leap from the $5.2 million in annual smartphone exports to the US just five years ago.
In addition to deepening its commitment to Indian manufacturing, Apple has also committed to expanding its retail presence in the country, opening stores in New Delhi and Mumbai. Through March, the company brought in a record revenue of $8 billion in the country.
Apple’s commitment to India is part of its strategy to reduce its dependence on China for manufacturing. However, China remains Apple’s primary manufacturing hub, and the company has continued expanding its research and development facilities there.
Meanwhile, The Information‘s Wayne Ma reported today that the early development of next year’s base iPhone 17 is in early development at Foxconn’s Bengaluru, India factory. The paywalled report rightly says this is a “milestone” for Apple’s manufacturing efforts in India and says the iPhone 17 model is already past the early development stage. Apple hopes engineers in India can develop iPhone prototypes that match the quality of Apple’s homegrown engineers at its California headquarters. Apple is aiming to be able to build its iPhones in locations closer to where the final assembly of the devices will take place. This could help Apple lower its operating costs.
While we haven’t heard any official word on what to expect from the 2025 iPhone, we have heard from multiple analysts about what we might see from the base model iPhone 17. Earlier this month, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17’s specs include a 6.1-inch display, an A19 chip, 8 GB of RAM, an upgraded front camera, two rear-facing cameras, and an aluminum casing. This means the iPhone 17 will not be a massive upgrade over this year’s iPhone 16.
Ma says China will continue to be the primary development location for the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max. If Apple sticks to tradition, the new iPhone 17 lineup should debut next September.