Every fifth iPhone is manufactured in India

Shortly before the first of many rounds of tariffs by the new US government, Apple apparently had 600 tons of iPhones flown into the USA from India – How was this possible so quickly? Bloomberg now seems to have found the answer: Foxconn India, a subsidiary of the Taiwanese company, has expanded its manufacturing capacity on the subcontinent to a previously unknown extent. Another supplier there is said to be the Tata Group.

As the news agency reports, citing sources, Apple has already started to relocate production capacities together with its partners during the coronavirus pandemic. Due to China's strict lockdowns, global supply chains were repeatedly disrupted for months at a time, starting five years ago. In the meantime, 20 percent of all iPhones are said to come from India. Another production location for Apple phones is Vietnam.

22 billion worth of iPhones from India

According to Bloomberg, Indian companies have produced iPhones with a factory output value of 22 billion US dollars in the past 12 months. This sum does not refer to the market price of the devices, but to what the producers charge Apple. The report does not reveal the number of devices exported. According to earlier reports, Apple is primarily producing iPhones in India for the US market to avoid the long-standing trade conflict between the USA and China.

It was only last Friday that the US government suspended the globally increased tariffs on electronic products announced eight days earlier, including for China. However, this is only intended to be a reprieve; the tariffs are now to be set individually for certain product groups. Duties on imports from China had previously been increased again, most recently to 145 percent. According to the initial announcement, 26% applied to India, meaning that Apple and Foxconn's involvement there could also make sense in the long term.

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