Explained: How India Became World Leader In Smartphone Manufacturing

India has surpassed China to emerge as the leading supplier of smartphones to the United States, driven by the government's 'Make in India' initiative, Apple's relocation of its operations to India, and US importers frontloading their inventory amid tariff uncertainties.

Analysts say that the US hiking tariffs on India has led vendors to front-load inventory, which means buying far more inventory than usual and changing their sourcing plans. Further, government support since 2017 through the Make In India program and strategic integration into global value chains (GVCs) due to the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme drove Indian success.

The total volume of “Made-in-India” smartphones grew 240 per cent YoY. Apple has scaled up its production capacity in India over the last several years and has dedicated most of its export capacity in the country to supply the US market so far in 2025.

India's shipments to the US account for approximately 44 per cent of all its smartphone imports, up from 13 percent last year. Meanwhile, China's share of smartphone exports to the US declined to 25 percent. China accounted for 61 per cent of smartphones exported to the US in the second quarter of 2024.

India is now the world’s third-largest exporter of mobile phones, clocking $20.5 billion (CY2024) worth of exports. Alongside China and Vietnam, India is now a major player in global electronics manufacturing, with companies shifting production to diversify supply chains.

Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on India and a 30 per cent tariff on China, while the two countries negotiated a trade deal, and a 20 per cent tariff on Vietnam. Most of the decline in US smartphone shipments assembled in China has been picked up by India, mainly due to Apple’s 'China Plus One' strategy.

India now boasts 300 mobile manufacturing units, a significant increase from just two in 2014. In FY14, 26 per cent of mobile phones sold in India were locally made, which has surged to 99.2 per cent being manufactured domestically, according to government data.

Though Apple has started manufacturing and assembling Pro models of the iPhone 16 series in India, the tech giant is still dependent on established manufacturing bases in China for their scaled supply for Pro models.

Samsung and Motorola have also increased their share of US-targeted supply from India, although their shifts are significantly slower and smaller in scale than Apple’s.

Published on: Saturday, August 16, 2025, 01:00 PM IST