India's iPhone exports surged by 53% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, hitting 23.9 million units, up from 15.6 million units in H1 2024 — marking Apple's fastest-ever first-half ramp from the country, data from Canalys showed. The sharp growth underlines India's rising prominence in Apple's global manufacturing and export strategy.
The United States emerged as the primary export destination, accounting for 78% of iPhones shipped from India in H1 2025—up from 53% a year ago. In contrast, the share of other key markets like the Netherlands, UAE, Czech Republic, UK, and Japan declined, each contributing between 2–4% this year.
"Foxconn led with over half the volume, while the Tata Group now accounts for nearly 4 in 10 iPhones exported from India. This shift reflects improving yield rates, line maturity, and Apple’s growing confidence in India as a core manufacturing base," said Sanyam Chaurasia, Principal Analyst at Canalys Omdia.
Crucially, India is now seeing the early stages of iPhone 17 production testing. Moneycontrol had earlier reported that Foxconn had initiated trial production of the iPhone 17 series in India. Tata Electronics is also involved, handling component manufacturing such as casings for the upcoming models.
Also read: Foxconn begins importing iPhone 17 components for trial production in India: Report
Chaurasia added that customs data from June points to an uptick in critical iPhone 17 component imports to Foxconn’s India facility, signalling an accelerated trial production phase ahead of Apple’s traditional September launch.
"While not officially confirmed, the volume and type of these imports make it highly likely that trial production or early-stage assembly has commenced, months ahead of Apple's typical September launch window. This would mark a new benchmark with the earliest ever flagship ramp-up from India," he said.
While the ramp-up reflects Apple's growing bet on India, it comes at a critical time. The reported exit of Chinese engineers from Foxconn India introduces short-term execution risks, even as the company pushes to localise operations using Taiwanese, Vietnamese, and Indian talent.
Despite uncertainties, analysts view the development as a major confidence booster.
"However, considering so much speculation around tariffs and Foxconn’s action of calling back their staff from Foxconn India, this is a very positive news. India remains a potentially key player in the future plans for Apple’s supply chain ecosystem and Apple shall ensure that India starts contributing more to its value chain and potentially becomes a large manufacturing and export hub for its hardware lineup," said Navkendar Singh, Associate Vice President at IDC India.
Chaurasia added that India may soon assemble iPhones in sync with China, aligning its production timelines with global launches.
"Technically, operationally, and geopolitically, India is being tested on whether it will be entrusted with the core. If the iPhone 17 ramp goes smoothly, it would redefine India’s role, not as Apple’s secondary base but as a synchronized engine powering global launches," he said.
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