By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – Apple on Friday has set a new benchmark in smartphone manufacturing in India, to achieve the fastest-ever growth in iPhone production as well as exports during the first half of 2025.
The Prime Minister’s Office wrote on social media platform X to celebrate the achievement, posed “Apple harvests record iPhone output from its India orchard,” highlighted the country’s growing role in global tech manufacturing.
According to data by market research firm Canalys, iPhone production in India jumped 53 per cent year-on-year between January and June 2025, reached 23.9 million units.
Apple’s strongest boost began assembling smartphones in the country in 2017.
The rise is seen as part of Apple’s strategy to reduce reliance on China, especially with the looming threat of higher US tariffs on Chinese goods.
The exports also followed the same growth trend, increasing by 53 per cent compared to the same period previous year, the report said.
The US was the biggest destination for iPhones made in India, received 78 per cent of all exports up from 53 per cent a year.
Netherlands, the UAE, the UK, and Japan saw a decline in their share of Indian iPhone shipments.
The report said that Foxconn led the charge in manufacturing, contributing more than half of the iPhones exported.
Tata Group has emerged as a strong player, now accounting for nearly 40 per cent of Apple’s iPhone exports from India.
Analysts said this shows better manufacturing output and growing confidence from Apple in India’s capabilities.
Sanyam Chaurasia, Principal Analyst at Canalys Omdia said “This could be Apple’s earliest ever flagship production ramp-up from India.”
He noted that if India can match China’s production timeline, it would mark a new chapter in Apple’s supply chain strategy.
The growth is strongly backed by the ‘Production-Linked Incentive scheme’ for electronics, which offers financial incentives to manufacturers for scaling up local production.
The development is a big boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative, which aims to position the country as a global manufacturing hub, the report concluded.
