Apple plans to reroute a significant portion of India-made iPhones—previously bound for European countries, the UK, Turkey, and Japan—to the US in the June quarter. Apple is accelerating local manufacturing to cushion the impact of rising US tariffs, according to industry officials and analysts.
“Sourcing from India is one of their steps to navigate the uncertainties related to tariffs and expand it, and not to keep it in one location,” Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint, told Moneycontrol.
Apple manufactured approximately 40–45 million iPhones in India in 2024, accounting for 18–20% of its global output. Of this, around 14–15 million were exported to the U.S., 13 million to other international markets, and about 12 million were sole in the Indian market.
According to industry officials, Apple has been shipping India-made iPhones to countries like the Netherlands, Italy, the Czech Republic, Japan, Turkey, the UK, and the UAE. “Apple will likely reroute India-made iPhones meant for these markets to the US for the June quarter by tweaking the models,” a source said.
Apple said it managed to limit the impact of tariffs in the March quarter by optimizing its supply chain and building ahead of demand. However, if current tariff rates remain unchanged, it expects a $900 million cost increase in the June quarter.
The company said most of its tariff exposure relates to the 20% U.S. tariff on Chinese goods announced in February and an additional 125% tariff on after-sales products and accessories from China—bringing the effective tariff on some items to 145%.
The Financial Times reported on April 26 that Apple aims to shift the production of over 60 million iPhones annually, covering all U.S. demand, to Indian factories by the end of 2026.
India currently faces a lower 26% reciprocal tariff from the U.S., compared to China’s 145%. A bilateral trade agreement between New Delhi and Washington is also in the works and could be signed later this year.