Apple in India transforms the US smartphone industry

India is taking off in America, biting big chunks out of a smartphone market once served by Chinese manufacturing. This trend isn’t particularly surprising to any Apple watcher, but what might be of interest is the absolute speed with which the market is changing.

The latest data tells us that the number of smartphones sold in the US, but made in China, tumbled in the second quarter from 61% to 25%. Apple has been a key component in this transformation with its decision to import iPhones for the US market from India. Apple is the “main driver” of change, Canalys said. The total volume of Made in India smartphones increased 240% year-on-year, and that nation now accounts for 44% of smartphones imported into the US.

The shift to India

Senior Analyst Runar Bjørhovde noted: “Over 75% of iPhones sold in the US in Q2-25 were made-in-India. The number was around 20% in Q2-24, so the “shift to India” in US smartphone is mainly Apple-driven.”

US smartphone shipments increased 1% during the quarter, the analysts said, with India the big beneficiary as the supply chain rapidly reorientates itself for outside-China production. 

Speaking to Computerwold, Bjørhovde said: “Many vendors have built up their capacity in India to assemble for local supply over the last decade. This started with Chinese vendors, who all make most of their Indian supply locally.”

The analyst stressed that India is defined by fierce price competition, so local manufacturing has been a big need due to the import tariffs that came with the “make in India” initiative. 

A long time coming

In a statement, Sanyam Chaurasia, principal analyst at Canalys, said: “Apple has scaled up its production capacity in India over the last several years as a part of its ‘China Plus One’ strategy….”

It should also be noted that Apple this week confirmed plans to close its store at the troubled Parkland Mall in Dalian City in China on Aug. 9. The decision could reflect slowing retail sales in China, though the company does intend to open three additional stores in China over the coming year.

When it comes to opening up India as a manufacturing center, Apple might be in the spotlight, but it isn’t alone. Samsung and Motorola have also increased their share of US-targeted supplies from India, the analysts said, “although their shifts are significantly slower and smaller in scale than Apple’s.”

Like Apple, Motorola’s core manufacturing hub is in China, while Samsung relies mainly on Vietnam. Motorola is using Dixon Technologies as its Indian partner.

“More premium vendors started moving in post-pandemic — with Apple both wanting to invest into India (growing middle class means growing premium opportunity) and hedge for geopolitical risks,” Bjorhovde said.

Changing the patterns

The result is that many markets, including Europe, have received Indian-manufactured iPhones in the last three or four years.

This accelerated directly as a result of the Trump tariff war, which has seen “almost all” India-made smartphones allocated to the US. This also means most iPhones being sold in Europe are now made in China, rather than India.

The analysts also observed that while in Q1 Apple front-loaded US iPhone inventory with mass quantities of devices to avoid looming tariffs, patterns normalized in Q2, creating a statistical reduction in shipments. 

They also claim Samsung’s S25 Edge is not performing as well as Samsung had hoped, with speculation of production cuts to come. The S25 range, however, is doing well and Apple will likely monitor this to see what impact it has as it eyes demand for its own new devices later this year, they said. It’s hard to read too much into that detail, but I’d argue it suggests more focus on mid-range devices, even as Apple prepares to tempt higher end customers with next year’s iPhone Fold.

Meanwhile, Apple also prepares for a new future in manufacturing, announcing news of the Aug. 19 opening of its Advanced Manufacturing Academy; it’s designed to help American companies transition to advanced manufacturing by implementing artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing techniques.

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