Apple iPhone exports from India surge past $1bn

Apple started making the iPhone 13 in India earlier this year.

Apple's iPhone exports from India crossed $1bn (€1bn) in five months since April, reflecting the tech giant's growing bet on the South Asian nation amid New Delhi's push for local manufacturing.

The outbound shipments of India-made iPhones, mainly to Europe and the Middle East, are set to reach $2.5bn in the 12 months through March 2023, almost double when compared to the year through March 2022. 

Apple started making the iPhone 13 in India earlier this year, and the company announced last week its plans to manufacture the latest iPhone 14. The tech giant has been manufacturing iPhones in India from 2017.

The devices exported from India from April to August this year comprise iPhone 11, 12 and 13 models, Bloomberg News reported.

The report comes as Apple seeks to shift some areas of iPhone production from China to other markets including India, the second biggest smartphone market in the world, where it is also planning to assemble iPad tablets.

India and countries such as Mexico and Vietnam are increasingly becoming important to contract manufacturers supplying to American brands as they seek to diversify production away from China.  

Apple’s key Taiwanese contract manufacturers Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron, currently make iPhones at plants in Southern India. All three won manufacturing incentives under a federal government plan. 

To be sure, India is still far behind China. About three million iPhones were made in India last year, compared with 230 million in China, according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates. 

Reuters and Bloomberg