Foxconn sends 97% of India's iPhone exports to US as Apple tackles tariffs
Apple has historically sold more than 60 million iPhones in the US each year, with roughly 80% made in China. (EPA Images pic)
NEW DELHI : Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn from India went to the US between March and May, customs data showed, far above the 2024 average of 50% 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% shipped to the US, compared to a 2024 average of 50.3%, according to commercially available customs data seen by Reuters.
India iPhone shipments by Foxconn to the US 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 and Foxconn did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said China will face 55% 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 US trading partners, to a baseline 10% tariff and is trying to negotiate an agreement to avert a 26% '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 US.
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% to 30% of global iPhone shipments in 2025, as compared to 18% 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% 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% 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% made in China.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Israel threatens to make Tehran 'burn' after Iranian retaliatory strikes
JERUSALEM: Iran and Israel traded missiles and airstrikes on Saturday, the day after Israel launched a sweeping air offensive against its old enemy, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop it building an atomic weapon. In Tehran, Iranian state TV reported that around 60 people, including 20 children, had been killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets. In Israel, air raid sirens sent residents into shelters as waves of missiles streaked across the sky and interceptors rose to meet them. At least three people were killed overnight. An Israeli official said Iran had fired around 200 ballistic missiles in four waves. U.S. President Donald Trump has lauded Israel's strikes and warned of much worse to come unless Iran quickly accepts the sharp downgrading of its nuclear programme that the U.S. has demanded in talks that had been due to resume on Sunday. But with Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and urging Iran's people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers. The United States, Israel's main ally, helped shoot down Iranian missiles, two U.S. officials said. 'If (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,' Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said. Iran had vowed to avenge Friday's Israeli onslaught, which gutted Iran's nuclear and military leadership and damaged atomic plants and military bases. Tehran warned Israel's allies that their regional military bases would come under fire too if they help shoot down Iranian missiles, Iranian state television reported. However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran's strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation. Gulf Arab states that have long mistrusted Iran but fear coming under attack in any wider conflict have urged calm as worries about disruption to the Gulf region's crucial oil exports boosted the price of crude by about 7% on Friday. Iranian general and parliament member Esmail Kosari said the country was seriously reviewing whether to close the Strait of Hormuz, the outlet for oil shipped from the Gulf. NIGHT OF BLASTS AND FEAR IN ISRAEL AND IRAN Iran's overnight fusillade included hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, an Israeli official said. Three people, including a man and a woman, were killed and dozens wounded, the ambulance service said. In Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv, emergency services rescued a baby girl trapped in a house hit by a missile, police said. Video showed teams searching through the rubble of one home. In the western suburb of Ramat Gan, near Ben Gurion airport, Linda Grinfeld described her apartment being damaged: 'We were sitting in the shelter, and then we heard such a boom. It was awful.' The Israeli military said it had intercepted surface-to-surface Iranian missiles as well as drones, and that two rockets had been fired from Gaza. In Iran, Israel's two days of strikes destroyed residential apartment buildings, killing families and neighbours as apparent collateral damage in strikes targetting scientists and senior officials in their beds. Iran said 78 people were killed on the first day and scores more on the second day, including when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran. State TV said 60 people were believed to have been killed there, though the figure was not officially confirmed. It broadcast pictures of the aftermath, with the collapsed building flattened into debris and the facade of several upper storeys lying sideways in the street, while slabs of concrete dangled from a neighbouring building. 'Smoke and dust were filling all the house and we couldn't breathe,' 45-year-old Tehran resident Mohsen Salehi told Iranian news agency WANA after an overnight air strike woke his family. Fars News agency said two projectiles had hit Mehrabad airport, located inside the capital, which is both civilian and military. With Iran's air defences heavily damaged, Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar said 'the road to Iran has been paved'. In preparation for possible further escalation, reservists were being deployed across Israel. Army Radio reported units had been positioned along the Lebanese and Jordanian borders. IRANIAN NUCLEAR SITES DAMAGED Israel sees Iran's nuclear programme as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon. A military official on Saturday said Israel had caused significant damage to Iran's nuclear facilities at Natanz and Isfahan, but had not so far operated in another uranium enrichment site, Fordow. The official said Israel had 'eliminated the highest commanders of their military leadership' and had killed nine nuclear scientists who 'were main sources of knowledge, main forces driving forward the (nuclear) programme'. Tehran insists the programme is entirely civilian in line with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that it does not seek an atomic bomb. However, it has repeatedly hidden parts of its programme from international inspectors, and the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday reported it in violation of the NPT. Iranian talks with the United States to resolve the nuclear dispute have stuttered this year. The next meeting is set for Sunday. Tehran implied it would not attend but stopped short of pulling out. 'The other side (the U.S.) acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless,' state media quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying. 'It is still unclear what decision we will make on Sunday in this regard.'
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Indonesia aims to seal EU free trade agreement in 2026, official says
A man walks past as a container is unloaded from a truck at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia, April 3, 2025. -- REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesia aims to seal a free trade agreement with the European Union in 2026, Indonesian trade ministry official Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono said, after the two sides completed their latest round of negotiations. Indonesia and the EU have been in discussions on the agreement for about nine years, and are aiming to sign and ratify it by next year, Djatmiko told reporters, adding it could come into effect by late 2026 or early 2027. The EU has committed to provide market access to priority Indonesian products such as palm oil, textiles, footwear and seafood, Djatmiko said. Indonesia and the EU have previously clashed on tougher EU trade rules for products with potential links to deforestation, which could have an impact on shipments of Indonesian palm oil. In turn, Indonesia has also pledged to increase market access for agricultural and manufactured goods from the EU, Djatmiko said. EU ambassador to Indonesia Denis Chaibi said negotiations are ongoing and "substance will determine timing." The main benefits of the free trade deal for Indonesia include increased foreign direct investment from the EU in sectors like renewables, semiconductors, and mineral derivatives, a presentation slide presented by Djatmiko showed. The deal could increase exports by 5.4%, according to an internal benefit analysis, but senior economic minister Airlangga Hartarto said this was a conservative estimate and he targets a 50% increase in three years. In 2024, the EU invested US$1.1 billion in Indonesia, a drop of more than 50% from the previous year. Indonesia's exports to the EU last year were worth US$17.3 billion, while imports from the EU were worth US$12.8 billion, Indonesian government data showed. (Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by John Mair, David Stanway and Susan Fenton) - Reuters
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
Zelensky urges US to 'shift tone' in dialogue with Russia
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday urged the US to 'shift tone' in its dialogue with Russia as he warned that appeasing President Vladimir Putin would not help to end the war. 'Right now, the tone of the US-Russia dialogue feels too warm,' Zelensky wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding, 'let's be honest: that won't stop Putin. What's needed is a shift in tone.'
