Apple has exported a record $13.2 billion worth of iPhones from India in the first five months of the year, highlighting a significant shift in the company’s global supply chain and India’s role as a major electronics export hub.
Apple has exported $13.2 billion worth of iPhones from India in the first five months of the financial year, a sharp rise that underscores how quickly the country is becoming central to the company’s manufacturing plans. TV9 Hindi reported that the total was about 47% higher than a year earlier, with Apple responsible for nearly half of India’s electronics shipments and 82% of smartphone exports in the period.
The scale of the increase also points to a broader shift in India’s export profile. According to the same report, smartphone shipments from the country rose to $15.96 billion between April and August, up by roughly 36% year on year, and almost all of that growth came from iPhone exports. Electronics exports in the same period reached $26.66 billion, up 34%, while a government official cited by The Economic Times said smartphones had become India’s largest export item, overtaking automotive diesel.
The acceleration appears to reflect both Apple’s own supply-chain strategy and India’s changed incentive structure. TV9 Hindi said the company’s gains have been helped by a new mobile phone manufacturing scheme introduced in April, which replaced the earlier production-linked incentive programme. Apple has been steadily deepening its local manufacturing base as it seeks to reduce reliance on China and widen production across multiple countries.
That strategy is also visible in Apple’s product mix and export timing. The report said Apple began shipping India-made iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models into global markets from the first day of local sales, narrowing the gap between Indian assembly and international availability. That marks a shift from earlier years, when handsets assembled in India often took longer to reach overseas buyers. Most iPhones sold in India are now also made domestically.
Apple’s footprint in India has grown from the first iPhone SE assembly line in 2017 to a network of five major plants, with Foxconn operating two and Tata Electronics running three, according to the report. During peak production, these facilities employ more than 100,000 people. Apple suppliers have also begun making more components locally, including enclosures, printed circuit board assemblies, mechanics, housings, flex PCBA and conductive graphite buttons. Earlier reports from MacRumors, The New Indian Express and IBEF indicated that Apple assembled about $14 billion of iPhones in India in fiscal 2024, equal to roughly 14% of global output, and that the expansion had already created large numbers of direct jobs at supplier sites.
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