Foxconn sends 97pc of India-made iPhones to US as Apple navigates China trade barriers
Foxconn shipped iPhones from India worth US$3.2 billion (RM13.5 billion) in March-May
Nearly all the India exports went to the US
Foxconn's India iPhone shipments to US worth US$4.4 billion Jan-May vs US$3.7 billion for whole of 2024
Trump has criticised Apple over India production
NEW DELHI, June 13 — Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn from India went to the United States between March and May, customs data showed, far above the 2024 average of 50 per cent and a clear sign of Apple's efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China.
The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively 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, Foxconn exported iPhones worth US$3.2 billion from India, with an average 97 per cent shipped to the United States, compared to a 2024 average of 50.3 per cent, according to commercially available customs data seen by Reuters.
India iPhone shipments by Foxconn to the United States in May 2025 were worth nearly US$1 billion, the second-highest ever after the record US$1.3 billion worth of devices shipped in March, the data showed.
Apple declined to comment, while Foxconn did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said China will face 55 per cent tariffs after the two countries agreed on a plan, subject to both leaders' approval, to ease levies that had reached triple digits.
India is subject, like most U.S trading partners, to a baseline 10 per cent tariff and is trying to negotiate an agreement to avert a 26 per cent 'reciprocal' levy that Trump announced and then paused in April.
Apple's increased production in India drew a strong rebuke from Trump in May. 'We are not interested in you building in India, India can 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, Foxconn has already sent iPhones worth US$4.4 billion to the US from India, compared to US$3.7 billion in the whole of 2024.
Apple has been taking steps to speed up production from India to bypass tariffs, which would make phones shipped from China to the US much more expensive. In March, it chartered planes to transport iPhone 13, 14, 16 and 16e models worth roughly US$2 billion to the United States.
Apple has also lobbied Indian 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 for iPhone exports.
'We expect made-in-India iPhones to account for 25 per cent to 30 per cent of global iPhone shipments in 2025, as compared to 18 per cent in 2024,' said Prachir Singh, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Tata Electronics, the other smaller Apple iPhone supplier in India, on average shipped nearly 86 per cent of its iPhone production to the US during March and April, customs data showed. Its May data was not available.
The company, part of India's Tata Group, started exporting iPhones only in July 2024, and only 52 per cent 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 promoted India as 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 in India.
Apple has historically sold more than 60 million iPhones in the US each year, with roughly 80 per cent made in China. — Reuters
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