US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff system could lead to a major change in Apple’s supply chain, with the Cupertino-based tech giant planning to attach even more importance to India, according to a report in the Financial Times. Apple is reportedly looking to shift the assembly of all iPhones sold in the US to India as early as next year.
According to the report, Apple wants to double iPhone production in India to 80 million units to meet the demand of 60 million iPhones to be sold in the US by 2026.
Shortly after President Trump’s tariff announcement, Apple saw a loss of around $700 billion in market value. Since then, the US government has exempted electronics like smartphones from the tariffs, providing relief to the tech giant. However, a separate 20% tariff on Chinese goods remains in place to address the export of fentanyl.
Apple’s Push in India:
Apple began manufacturing the iPhone 15 models in India last year and extended production to the iPhone 16 Pro series in the same period. Earlier this month, India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw revealed that Apple exported iPhones worth 1.5 trillion rupees (about $17.4 billion) from India in the fiscal year ending March 2025.
Apple has been working to reduce its reliance on China since the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent shutdowns in 2020. As part of this strategy, the tech giant has gradually shifted its focus to India, where it now operates three iPhone assembly plants: two with Tata Group and one with Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn.
Even before the introduction of reciprocal tariffs, Apple encouraged suppliers from China, Japan, Taiwan, and other countries to set up manufacturing operations in India. Key suppliers like Sunwoda (battery packs), Foxlink (cables), and Aequs (cases) have also started production in India.
Meanwhile, Apple has been actively expanding its supply chain in India over the past few years. An earlier report revealed that when Apple began manufacturing in India under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in 2020, the local content for various models was around 5-8%. However, this has now increased to approximately 20% for different models.
