The tech giant’s expanding bet on the South Asian country despite New Delhi’s push for domestic production is seen in Apple Inc.’s iPhone exports from India, which have surpassed $1 billion in five months since April, according to a report by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
The outbound shipments of India-made iPhones, mainly to Europe and the Middle East, are set to reach $2.5 billion in the 12 months through March 2023 – almost double when compared to the year through March 2022, the report said, citing sources.
Apple started making the iPhone 13 in India earlier this year, and the company announced last week its plans to manufacture the latest iPhone 14. The tech giant has been manufacturing iPhones in India since 2017.
The devices exported from India from April to August this year comprise iPhone 11, 12, and 13 models, Bloomberg said.
The report comes as Apple seeks to shift some areas of iPhone production from China to other markets including India, the second biggest smartphone market in the world, where it is also planning to assemble iPad tablets.
As contract manufacturers for American companies want to diversify their production away from China amid Covid-related lockdowns and brewing tensions between Washington and Beijing, India and nations like Mexico and Vietnam are becoming more and more significant.
