India Emerges As Global Smartphone Manufacturing Hub Amid China Slowdown

Despite a global smartphone manufacturing decline expected in 2025, India's output will surge, reaching a record 20% share due to export demand from Apple and Samsung.

India is poised to become the leading smartphone manufacturer in 2025, with a 20% global output share, driven by Apple and Samsung exports.

Source : freepik

As global smartphone manufacturing output declines, India is set to be the big winner in 2025, with output growing in double-digit percentages to reach a record 20 per cent share of worldwide output, fuelled by export demand from Apple and Samsung, a report showed on Tuesday.

Global smartphone manufacturing output is expected to slip 1 per cent (on-year) in 2025 due to tariff impacts and a broader industry slowdown, following a 4 per cent rise in 2024, according to Counterpoint Research’s latest global smartphone manufacturing allocation tracker.

China, India, and Vietnam were responsible for more than 90 per cent of the global manufacturing output in 2024, with India leading in terms of growth.

However, in 2025, manufacturing outputs from different countries are expected to show mixed performances. China will feel the impact of tariffs in 2025, which will result in declining output coupled with forecast domestic underperformance.

The global smartphone manufacturing shift has been accelerating after the Covid-19 pandemic, but the tariffs have hurt industry players at every level – from upstream component suppliers to downstream importers and distributors, brands to manufacturers.

“Consequently, brand owners have no choice but to move out of China and allocate more production capacity and output in other countries,” said Counterpoint Research Senior Analyst, Ivan Lam.

The main winners are India, which has significant growth potential, and Vietnam, which is relatively closer to China and has a mature contract manufacturing and export sector for consumer electronics, Lam noted.

Observing the recent manufacturing growth spurt in India, Counterpoint Research Senior Analyst, Prachir Singh, stated, “With traditional global EMS giants continuing to invest in India and local EMS actively participating, the country’s local manufacturing capabilities have significantly improved and are now capable of meeting higher production demands – after nearly a decade of refinement”.

Meanwhile, India’s overall manufacturing ecosystem is continuously growing, and local manufacturing is consistently improving, both in terms of yield and complexity.

“To further boost the component ecosystem, the government recently launched the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), incentivizing companies to invest and build in the country,” Singh added.

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)