India Overtakes China In iPhone Shipments In April
This was mainly due to the higher tariffs levied on Chinese shipments by the US against the basic tariff of 10 per cent on India - Sources
CHENNAI: Amidst trade uncertainties, India overtook China in April for the first time in exporting 3.3 million iPhones compared to China’s 900,000 units to the US.
iPhone exports from India to the US was 3.3 million units last month, which accounted for a whopping 76 per cent increase from April last year, though shipments were down from the 4,400,000 units Apple shipped from India in March, according to the data of Canalys reported by CNBC.
However, shipments were lower than Chinese shipments for the first time. iPhone shipments from China plummeted by a massive 76 per cent to just 900,000 units.
This was mainly due to the higher tariffs levied on Chinese shipments by the US against the basic tariff of 10 per cent on India. The total shipments of iPhones to the US from China and India more than halved from over 8 million in March to 4 million in April.
During the January-April period, Chinese shipments were still higher than that from India. Apple exported a total of 13.2 million iPhones from China to the US between January and April 2025 against 11.5 million shipped from India to the US. As per reports, the US iPhone demand is around 20 million units per quarter.
With the US bringing down the tariffs on Chinese imports to 30 per cent, Chinese shipments are likely to recover in the coming months. The report finds that India will take a longer time to beat China in assembly of iPhones.
Tata Electronics commenced iPhone assembly operations, including that of iPhone 16 and iPhone 16e models, at its Hosur facility a few days back, as per reports. Tata is also planning to increase the assembly lines in the facility.
The bulk of India-made iPhones are assembled at Foxconn Technology Group’s factory. Tata Electronics, which had bought Wistron Corp.’s local business and runs Pegatron Corp.’s operations in India, too is a key supplier. Apple assembled $22 billion worth of iPhones in India in FY25.
