Nearly all theiPhones exported byFoxconnfromIndiawent to the United States between March and May, customs data showed, far above the 2024 average of 50 percent and a clear sign ofApple’s efforts to bypass high US tariffsimposed on China.
The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, showApplehas realigned itsIndiaexportsto almostexclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to countries including the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Britain.
During March-May,FoxconnexportediPhones worth $3.2 billion (roughly Rs.27,547 crore) fromIndia, with an average97 percent shipped to the United States, compared to a 2024 average of 50.3 percent, according to commercially available customs data seen by Reuters.
IndiaiPhoneshipments byFoxconnto the United States in May 2025 were worth nearly $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,608 crore), the second-highest ever after the record $1.3 billion (roughly Rs.11,191 crore) worth of devices shipped in March, the data showed.
Appledeclined to comment, whileFoxconndid not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said China will face 55 percent tariffsafter the two countries agreed on a plan, subject to both leaders’ approval, to ease levies that had reached triple digits.
Indiais subject, like most US trading partners, to a baseline 10 percent tariff and is trying to negotiate an agreement to avert a 26 percent “reciprocal” levy that Trump announced and then paused in April.
Apple’s increased production inIndiadrew a strong rebuke from Trump in May. “We are not interested in you building inIndia,Indiacan take care of themselves, they are doing very well, we want you to build here,” Trump recalled telling CEO Tim Cook.
In the first five months of this year,Foxconnhas already sentiPhones worth $4.4 billion (roughly Rs.37,878 crore) to the US fromIndia, compared to $3.7 billion (roughly Rs.31,844 crore) in the whole of 2024.
Applehas been taking steps to speed up production fromIndiato bypasstariffs, which would make phones shipped from China to the US much more expensive. In March, it chartered planes to transportiPhone13, 14, 16 and 16e models worth roughly $2 billion (roughly Rs.17,213 crore) to the United States.
Applehas also lobbiedIndian airport authorities to cut the time needed to clear customs at Chennai airport in the southern state of Tamil Nadu from 30 hours to six hours, Reuters has reported. The airport is a key hub foriPhoneexports.
“We expect made-in-IndiaiPhones to account for 25 percent to 30 percent of globaliPhoneshipments in 2025, as compared to 18 percent in 2024,” said Prachir Singh, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Tata Electronics, the other smallerAppleiPhonesupplier inIndia, on average shipped nearly 86 percent of itsiPhoneproduction to the US during March and April, customs data showed. Its May data was not available.
The company, part ofIndia’s Tata Group, started exportingiPhones only in July 2024, and only 52 percent of its shipments went to US during 2024, the data showed.
Tata declined to comment on the numbers.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in recent years promotedIndiaas a smartphone manufacturing hub, but high duties on importing mobile phone components compared to many other countries means it is still expensive to produce the devices inIndia.
Applehas historically sold more than 60 millioniPhones in the US each year, with roughly 80 percent made in China.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
