Apple assembling all four US-bound ‘iPhone 17’ models in India, not China

Apple iPhone 17 dummies leak (images: Sonny Dickson via X)
Aiming to lessen U.S import tariff impact, Apple is boosting iPhone production in India across five factories, including two recently opened facilities, to reduce dependence on China for US-bound models, Bloomberg News reports Tuesday. The company is manufacturing all four iPhone 17 models in India ahead of their September 2025 launch, marking the first time all new variants, including Pro models, will ship from India at launch, according to sources familiar with the matter, as cited by Bloomberg News.
Sankalp Phartiyal and Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
‎

The expansion includes Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu state’s Hosur and Foxconn Technology Group’s production hub close to the Bangalore airport, which have both come online recently. In a sign of Tata’s increasing role as an Apple partner, plants controlled by the local conglomerate will account for as much as half of India’s iPhone output over the next two years, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private manufacturing planning.
Earlier this year, Apple expanded iPhone production in India to fulfill the majority of US demand. That came in an effort to lessen the impact of tariffs on goods exported from China.
The Trump administration has so far exempted electronics like the iPhone from sectoral tariffs, though they may remain subject to individual country levies.
The centerpiece of Apple’s iPhone 17 strategy is a new slimmed-down model, Bloomberg News has reported. While Apple isn’t anticipating it to be an especially hot seller compared with its Pro models, it’s expected to sit at the core of its marketing efforts. For the first time in half a decade, Apple is meaningfully redesigning its high-end iPhones, adding a new rear-camera system with vastly improved video recording and photo zoom capabilities.
Apple is also planning to make a new iPhone 17e in India. That phone will launch early next year, succeeding this year’s iPhone 16e.

‎
MacDailyNews Take: Sped up by the Trump admin’s trade policies, the days of China being “the factory of the world” are ending – and that, in the long run, is a Very Good Thing.

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple assembling all four US-bound ‘iPhone 17’ models in India, not China appeared first on MacDailyNews.