Apple could double iPhone production in India to more than $30 billion annually in two years if the US President-elect Donald Trump carries out his promise of imposing hefty tariffs on imports from China, the Economic Times reported. About $15-16 billion worth of the device is made in India now.
During his Presidential campaign, Trump had threatened to levy 60-100 percent tariff on goods imported from China, which has been at odds with the US over trade barriers for the last few years. The Republican trounced his Democrat rival and vice-president Kamala Harris to return to the White House as the 47th President of the United States.
In his first term from 2016-20, Trump had imposed a slew of tariffs on Chinese imports. A similar move in his second stint could make Apple one of the top manufacturing companies in India, the report added.
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“While India could lose in some areas, it could be a big beneficiary in areas such as electronics, especially iPhone production,” an official told the publication.
Neil Shah, vice-president at technology researcher Counterpoint Research, told ET that with growing trend for premium products supported by the iPhone Pro series now being manufactured in India, the overall production value in India has the potential to surpass $30 billion annually in the next couple of years.
According to Counterpoint, Apple has a 6 percent share of India's smartphone market. In 2023, Apple accounted for 23 percent of the smartphone revenue share, beating Samsung's 21 percent market share. Apple shipped over 10 million iPhones in India in 2023, up from 6 million in 2022, securing the top revenue position for the year, pipping Samsung.
The report, quoting experts, also pointed out that to double the iPhone production in India, it would also depend on whether the government can make deep reforms to address cost inefficiencies and uncertainties in policies to ensure that the additional production does not shift from China to other countries like Vietnam.
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