BENGALURU: Apple is rapidly redrawing its manufacturing map. The iPhone maker now assembles roughly one in every four iPhones in India, marking a sharp escalation in its push to shift production away from China.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple assembled around 55 million iPhones in India in 2025, up from 36 million a year earlier, a jump of 53 per cent. With global iPhone output estimated between 220 million and 230 million units annually, the surge means India now accounts for roughly 25 per cent of the company’s worldwide production.
The shift is driven by a potent mix of geopolitics and incentives. Rising US tariffs on Chinese goods, lingering trade tensions and India’s manufacturing push have nudged Apple to diversify its supply chain more aggressively.
For the first time, the company also assembled its entire current lineup, including the premium Pro and Pro Max models of the iPhone 17 series, in India from day one. Earlier, India-made devices were largely restricted to older or mid-tier variants.
Production is spread across five assembly plants operated by partners including Foxconn, Tata Electronics and Pegatron. These facilities continue to build older models such as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 for both domestic sales and export markets.
Government incentives have played a pivotal role. India’s production-linked incentive scheme has helped offset cost disadvantages such as supply-chain gaps and logistics hurdles, encouraging Apple and its partners to scale manufacturing rapidly. Companies are now in talks with New Delhi to extend these subsidies, which are set to expire on March 31.
The economic impact has been significant. Apple’s supply chain in India spans more than 45 suppliers and is estimated to have generated over 3,50,000 direct and indirect jobs. Government data suggests the company produced more than $45 billion worth of iPhones in India between 2021–22 and 2024–25, with roughly 76 per cent, around $34 billion, shipped overseas.
The surge is also reshaping global trade flows. In mid-2025, India overtook China as the largest source of smartphones shipped to the United States, capturing about 44 per cent of the market in the April–June quarter, according to Canalys.
Apple’s India bet is paying off at home too. According to Counterpoint Research, the company held a 12 per cent share of India’s smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2025, driven largely by demand in the premium segment. The iPhone 16 emerged as the country’s best-selling smartphone, shipping about 6.5 million units between January and November 2025.
With factories scaling up, exports surging and premium demand climbing, Apple’s India experiment is no longer a hedge. It is fast becoming the company’s next manufacturing powerhouse.