According to a recent report, the company plans move all of the iPhone for the US market to India before 2026. A decision that, beyond the economic, reflects the growing commercial tension between the United States and China, and the need to diversify production away from the Asian giant.
Apple will manufacture its iPhone in India
Until a few years ago, thinking about an iphone “Made in India” might seem more a utopia than anything else. However, after the pandemic and the bottlenecks that this caused in Chinese production, Apple began to look towards India as a new axis of its production industrial. Since then, the manufacture of iPhones in Indian territory has not stopped growing. In the last fiscal year, record figures were reached, and analysts foresee that production could double in the next two years. It is no accident: Apple has already assembled, for example, the iPhone 16 Pro in India just days after its launch, something unthinkable just a couple of generations.
This movement not only responds to logistics or diversification reasons. The recent tariff climb between the United States and China has put many technological companies in check. This same month, the US government imposed a 145 % tariff To imports from China, remarkably making the products assembled there. Although Tim Cook achieved a temporary exemption for devices such as the iPhone, the iPad and all Mac models, the uncertainty climate pushes Apple to make more stable decisions in the long term. And the solution seems clear: moving production to India, where current tariffs are much lower, around 25 %, and bilateral agreements are being negotiated that could reduce them even more.
For Apple it is a challenge to manufacture more than 60 million iPhone In India in just one year, which would mean the estimated sales figure in the North American country. But if the company has demonstrated it is its ability to optimize production in record time when the situation demands it. In addition, the supplier ecosystem in India has improved markedly in recent years, and firms such as Foxconn already have active plants in the country, prepared to assume greater work volumes.
Will iPhone cost more?
This change will also have consequences for consumers. In the medium term, it could mean greater availability of terminals at key moments of the year, such as Christmas season, reducing the delays that have sometimes suffered due to logistics problems in China. You can also have a Positive impact on pricesavoiding tariff costs that would end up impacting the end user.
What Apple seeks to ensure stable, diversified and less vulnerable production to geopolitical tensions. And everything indicates that India will become the great beneficiary of this movement. For the average user, maybe I don't change much to see a “Manufactured in India” In the box of its new iPhone, but globally, this small detail symbolizes a much deeper transformation.
