Apple has found friendly territory after its ups and downs in China, a country with which it has been experiencing a trade crisis for several months and has already been suffering the consequences of the tariff war with the United States for years. India is the new right eye of the Californian company and as proof of this is its immense growth.
Apple is achieving frenetic 30% year-over-year growth in India and several factors are influencing it. On the one hand, the enormous investment in manufacturing plants that they are making to be able to supply the entire country and a good part of abroad. On the other hand, their great partner is following in their footsteps and what’s more, they are catering to a growing market. The deal seems very, very good to them.
From India to India and from India to the world
Apple started manufacturing iPhones in India four years ago. At that time, these were previous generation devices aimed at a local audience and at attractive prices.
Apple’s initial objective was to establish itself in India to be able to supply a rapidly growing market and to do this, it took advantage of pricing advantages which even allowed it to lower the prices of iPhones. Therefore, manufacturing in India for India is very profitable for them.
However, things have changed. Apple has been increasing its investments in manufacturing plants for years and They supply not only India, but also the rest of the world.. In fact, in 2023, the number of iPhones that left India was around 25 million and in the first half of 2024, this number was already close to 20 million, so they will eventually surpass it.
What happened recently is unprecedented: Apple manufactures a good portion of the iPhone 16s worldwide in India. More precisely, 23% of the units, which although it is true that the rest of the pie is larger and goes to China, it is a figure that says a lot about Apple’s plans. Especially since, even if it has been exporting iPhones for years, it has never done so with the latest generation, the assembly of which was always based in China.
The accounts also add up for Apple (and its partner)
It was predictable that this increase in exports would also have an impact on Apple’s accounts. Every investment has its initial outlay and payback period and ultimately only Apple knows these exact accounts. There are, however, estimates of revenue generated from Indian exports.
According to Reuters, Apple closed the last fiscal year with 12 billion dollars in exports. Therefore, given the increase seen this year, the numbers at the end of the next fiscal year could be even more positive and an additional positive value that adds to Apple’s reasons to continue betting on India as a country manufacturer.
Of course, Apple is not alone on this path. Foxconn, of Taiwanese origin, has been its major partner for years. He is the one who sets up the manufacturing plants and continues to have a large part of his investment in China, although he has also invested a lot of money in the factories that Apple has built in India since 2020.
The fact that Foxconn is from Taiwan and that country also accumulates a lot of tensions with China pushes companies like this to move part of their investments to India. This is where, according to Business Today, Apple’s major partner plans to invest a billion dollars. More precisely in Tamil Nadu, a region where they intend to create a factory specializing in the manufacturing and export of smartphone screens.
In Applesfera | How to record calls in iOS 18. This is the new function launched by the iPhone
In Applesfera | iPhone SE 4: release date, price, models and everything we think we know about them
