The efforts of the Indian authorities to localize the production of Apple smartphones are aimed not so much at saturating the local market, where many people simply cannot afford the brand’s products, but specifically at exporting Indian-assembled iPhones. Over the previous six months, it grew by a third in monetary terms year-on-year to $6 billion.
Image Source: Apple
Based on the results of the entire fiscal year, which in India will end next spring, iPhone export volumes in value terms could reach $10 billion. It is generally accepted that the localization of iPhone production in India helps Apple reduce its dependence on China, with which relations in the United States have been deteriorating recently. rapid speed. However, Apple management expresses its loyalty to the Chinese market and production base at every opportunity, and CEO Tim Cook has already visited China twice this year.
In southern India, iPhone assembly is carried out by three Apple contractors, including Taiwan’s Foxconn and Pegatron, as well as India’s Tata Group. About half of India’s iPhone exports come from Foxconn. From April to September, the Indian Tata Group exported iPhones of its own assembly worth about $1.7 billion. It acquired its enterprise in Karnataka last year from the Taiwanese Wistron.
It is iPhones that form the bulk of Indian smartphone exports, and they also became the largest item of Indian exports to the United States for the five months from April to August inclusive. In monetary terms, this flow of smartphones into the United States reached $2.88 billion. Five years ago, this figure did not exceed $5.2 million. Now approximately every seventh iPhone sold in the world is assembled in India.
In India’s domestic market, Apple products have a market share of less than 7%, while Chinese Android smartphone makers dominate it. This year, Apple contractors began assembling the latest iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max in India. In addition to the two existing Apple brand stores, the company expects to open new retail outlets in India. Apple’s total revenue in the country reached a record $8 billion in the last fiscal year. Last year, Apple smartphones worth $14 billion were collected in India, of which about $10 billion were exports.