India has surpassed China as the leading source of smartphones sold in the United States, primarily due to Apple Inc.'s strategic shift to assemble more iPhones in India. In the quarter ending June 2025, India accounted for 44% of the smartphones shipped to the US, marking the first time it became the largest manufacturer for this market.

This is a significant increase compared to a year ago when China dominated with over 60% of shipments but has since fallen to just 25%. Vietnam ranks second, largely due to Samsung's production facilities there.

The rapid rise in India's share is linked to Apple's ramped-up production capacity in the country and the front-loading of device inventories by smartphone makers concerned about tariffs and geopolitical tensions.

Apple, while still manufacturing most of its iPhones in China, has substantially increased its Indian output, tripling the volume of made-in-India devices shipped to the US compared to the previous year. Apple's iPhone shipments to the US declined slightly by 11% in the quarter, reflecting a distortion caused by unusually high stockpiling earlier in the year to mitigate tariff risks.

Market analysts from Canalys note that Apple built up high inventory levels in early 2025 and maintained them into Q2, while overall US smartphone market growth was modest (1%), indicating weaker consumer demand amid economic pressures.

This manufacturing shift also forms part of broader efforts by smartphone makers to diversify production beyond China, aiming to reduce risks from tariffs and geopolitical conflicts. Despite this, Apple has no current smartphone production in the US but has pledged significant domestic investment and job creation over the next four years.

The transformation in the US smartphone supply chain highlights India’s emergence as a new manufacturing hub fuelled by Apple’s production shift, changing longstanding market dynamics and reflecting wider global supply chain realignments.

Based On A NDTV Report