Apple is now manufacturing roughly a quarter of its iPhones in India, reaching a milestone that analysts at JPMorgan projected in 2022 as the company gradually reduces its reliance on China as its primary manufacturing hub.
According to a report by Bloomberg, about 55 million iPhones produced last year came from India, out of an estimated 220 million to 230 million units manufactured globally. The figure indicates that Apple has quickly scaled production in the country, turning India into one of the most important pillars of its global supply chain.
The expansion is part of a broader strategy by the company to spread manufacturing across multiple countries, limiting exposure to geopolitical tensions, supply disruptions, and shifting trade policies that have complicated operations in China in recent years.
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Apple has accelerated its manufacturing shift over the past year. The company produced the entire iPhone 17 lineup in India ahead of its global launch in September, marking a significant development in Apple’s production strategy. Previously, the earliest batches of new iPhone models were almost exclusively assembled in China, with other countries joining the production cycle later.
Speaking about the company’s evolving supply chain strategy, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said the majority of iPhones sold in the United States are now supplied from India-based manufacturing facilities. That shift indicates that India has rapidly moved from a secondary assembly location to a central manufacturing base.
Industry analysts say the transformation of Apple’s supply chain has been years in the making. The COVID-19 pandemic first exposed the risks of heavy dependence on Chinese manufacturing when lockdowns disrupted operations at major iPhone assembly plants. Since then, Apple has steadily expanded production partnerships in India with key contract manufacturers.
The pace of diversification increased in 2025 as uncertainty grew around U.S. tariff policies affecting Chinese imports. The shifting trade environment has prompted companies with global supply chains to reassess production locations and build redundancy into manufacturing networks.
The issue has also drawn political attention. At a business summit in Doha in May, U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly warned Cook against accelerating Apple’s manufacturing expansion in India, highlighting how the company’s supply chain strategy intersects with wider economic and trade priorities.
On the other hand, Apple’s expansion represents a major win in India’s effort to position itself as a global electronics manufacturing hub. The country has introduced a range of incentives under its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to attract large-scale technology manufacturing investments from companies seeking alternatives to China.
Apple’s contract manufacturing partners — including large electronics assemblers — have significantly expanded factory capacity in India in recent years, allowing production of newer iPhone models to begin earlier in the product cycle. The shift has also coincided with rapid growth in Apple’s presence in the Indian consumer market, which the company increasingly views as one of its most promising long-term growth opportunities.
According to data from analyst firm Counterpoint Research, Apple shipped about 14 million iPhones in India last year, representing a 9% increase from the previous year. That growth reflects the gradual expansion of Apple’s customer base in a country long dominated by lower-cost Android devices.
In revenue terms, the market has become increasingly significant. Bloomberg reported that iPhone sales in India exceeded $9 billion last year, highlighting how rising incomes and expanding premium smartphone demand are reshaping the market.
Apple has also been steadily increasing its retail footprint in the country. The company opened its sixth Apple Store in India last month, adding to the flagship outlets launched earlier in major cities as part of its push to strengthen direct engagement with customers.
The company is also exploring ways to deepen its ecosystem presence in the country. Apple is reportedly in discussions to launch its digital payments service, Apple Pay, in India later this year, a move that would expand its services portfolio in one of the world’s fastest-growing digital payments markets.
Analysts say the parallel expansion of manufacturing and consumer sales in India gives Apple a strategic advantage. Producing devices locally not only helps the company diversify supply chains but also reduces import costs and improves its ability to compete in a price-sensitive market.
At the same time, the growing scale of production in India illustrates how the global electronics supply chain is slowly evolving away from a single-country manufacturing model toward a more distributed network spanning multiple regions.
That shift could prove essential for Apple as geopolitical tensions, trade disputes, and regulatory pressures continue to reshape the global technology industry.