US smartphone imports witness big leap of ‘Made in India’ units, as China’s share falls
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "US smartphone imports witness big leap of ‘Made in India’ units, as China’s share falls")
Representative picture Photograph: (PTI)
The sharp three-fold surge in India's smartphone exports to the US is largely driven by Apple, which has been relocating its manufacturing operations to India. In contrast, China's share of US smartphone imports has fallen drastically.
India is fast emerging as a major hub for smartphone manufacturing and has significantly increased its share in imports of smartphones by the US, thereby challenging China’s long-standing dominance in the field. In the first five months of 2025, nearly one in three smartphones imported into the US was manufactured in India—a sharp rise from just 11% in 2024 to over 30%.
According to data from the US International Trade Commission (USITC), US smartphone imports from India have tripled to 21.3 million units in just the first five months of 2025. In terms of value, the imports surged by 182% to $9.35 billion—surpassing the roughly $7 billion recorded for all of 2024.
This surge in smartphone exports is largely driven by Apple, which has been relocating its manufacturing operations to India. In May, Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested that a significant portion of iPhones sold in the US during the April–June quarter would be sourced from India. Currently, India accounts for around 20% of Apple’s global iPhone production—a strategic move encouraged by India’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The PLI scheme was designed to boost domestic smartphone manufacturing by incentivising global brands to set up their assembly facilities in India.
China’s share sees big fall
In contrast, China, which still remains the largest exporter of phones, saw its share of US smartphone imports drastically fall from 82 per cent to 49 per cent in the five-month period. China exported 29.4 million smartphones to the US during January and May, marking a 27 per cent year-on-year decline but still worth around $10 billion. India ranked second with 21.3 million units ahead of third-placed Vietnam with total exports to the US at 8.3 million units, contributing 14 per cent of the total imports.
However, the change in smartphone production trend now faces some challenge as President Donald Trump had threatened a 25 per cent tariff on India-produced iPhones in a bid to promote the return of manufacturing to the US.
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India needs to overcome supply chain issues
Besides, there are still concerns about the supply chain, as Apple’s official list of suppliers for 2023 released recently shows 157 vendors and suppliers in mainland China and just 14 in India. The number of Indian suppliers, though has since increased to 64.
The Indian government has been taking initiatives to promote domestic production of smartphones. Union minister Jitin Prasada shared that mobile manufacturing set ups in India have risen to 300 in 2024-25 from just two in 2014-15. Moreover, mobile phone output has risen 28 times to Rs 5.45 lakh crore, with exports going up 127 times to 2 lakh crore.
