More Android phones sail to foreign shores via India
New Delhi: Not just Apple's iPhones, shipments of Android phones from India to the US are also witnessing strong growth, driven by the Trump administration's tariff policies as well as the Indian government's export push.
Lenovo-owned
Motorola
exported 1.6 million smartphones that run on the Android operating system from India in the first five months of 2025, with 99% of those going to the US, according to data sourced from market research firm Canalys. It had exported 1 million units in 2024.
Motorola, which makes phones through Indian contract manufacturer
Dixon Technologies
, historically catered to the US market almost entirely from China, which has since April been hit by a 55% US tariff compared with 26% levied on India, said industry experts. Smartphones, though, have been temporarily excluded from the so-called reciprocal tariffs, but uncertainty on the US policy persists.
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Korean major Samsung, the other company that exports smartphones to the US from India, shipped 945,000 smartphones in the January-May period, compared with 645,000 during the prior 12 months, according to Canalys. The US levies a 46% tariff on Vietnam, Samsung's main export hub for the American market. The tariffs are currently on a 90-day pause as Vietnam negotiates a trade agreement.
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While both Samsung and Motorola have increased exports to the US as well as other markets from India, Apple is by far the largest exporter of smartphones in general - and to the US - from India.
Boost from PLI Scheme
Motorola and Samsung didn't respond to ET's request for comment.
'We're expanding capacity by 50% from our current levels for our anchor customer (Motorola) to meet their increased order book, a large part of it will be on account of exports to North America (US) in light of the evolving geopolitical scenario,' Dixon Technologies managing director Atul Lall said on a recent earnings call.
Smartphone brands are also ramping up exports from India to Africa and the UAE amid the government's push to transform the country into a global manufacturing hub for smartphones, triggered by the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Dixon, Samsung and Apple's manufacturing partners Foxconn and Tata Electronics receive incentives under this scheme.
Smartphone exports from India crossed 35 million units in the January-May period, according to Canalys. Apple accounted for 20.5 million of these units, 80% of which went to the US.
Brands had exported about 60 million units in 2024, with Apple accounting for half of those. Samsung and Motorola were the other major exporters.
An industry expert said the likes of Samsung, Motorola, Transsion, and HMD Global (which manufactures for the Nokia brand) are increasingly exporting smartphones from India, boosted by the PLI scheme that make them globally competitive on costs and allow them to export to markets which offer enough capacities.
Canalys said Samsung, which makes on its own and through contract manufacturer Dixon, is on track to meet, or even exceed, its 2024 export volumes, having nearly hit the mid-way mark by May 2025. The company exported 25.3 million smartphones in 2024 and by May 2025, the company has already exported 11.4 million handsets.
Samsung still leads in exports (among Android brands), but its growth is becoming flat as destination markets shift due to tariff uncertainties, Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said. 'Motorola is emerging as a surprise mover, nearly doubling its US-bound exports.'
Transsion brands Infinix, Tecno and iTel have also ramped up exports. Dixon acquired a majority stake in Transsion's manufacturing business in May last year.
Lall of Dixon said it has a strong export order book to African markets where Transsion has an over 80% market share. The company is now also considering exports of Google Pixel phones, which it manufactures in India.
India's smartphone market leader, Chinese brand Vivo, too has been exporting small volumes from India. The company exported around 350,000 handsets in 2024, and has already shipped 250,000 handsets till May this year, mainly to Thailand and Malaysia.
Vivo, which moved to a bigger production facility following a strategic manufacturing partnership with Dixon, is likely to scale up exports further from this year.
Emails to the brands went unanswered.
China disadvantage
Some market trackers feel the opportunity for Chinese brands to export from India remains much lower compared with Apple and Samsung.
'Chinese brands do not have access to the US markets, and India is actually their largest market outside China. They also get more incentives and better costs when exporting from China. It does not make much economic sense for them to export from India,' an analyst told ET asking not to be named.
He added that general margins in mobile phone manufacturing is around 2-3% in India, but because of export incentives in China, the margins are much higher for Chinese brands.
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