iPhones Worth Over $2.5 Billion Exported From India During April-December 2022

Apple exported over $2.5 billion worth of iPhones from India in the period between April-December last year, which is nearly double the exports in the entire financial year 2021-22.

Apple started assembling its latest iPhone models in India only in 2022. ( Image: Getty )

Apple exported over $2.5 billion worth of iPhones from India in the period between April-December last year, which is nearly double the exports in the entire financial year 2021-22 (FY22), says a report by news agency Bloomberg. These rapidly growing numbers highlight how the tech giant is shifting its production outside China, which was hit by workers' protests amid zero Covid-19 policies and thriving iPhone production in India.

Apple's biggest contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group and Wistron, another contract manufacturer for Apple, have each shipped more than $1 billion of Apple’s marquee devices abroad in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 2023, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter. Pegatron Corp, another contract manufacturer of iPhones, is on track to move about $500 million of the iPhone models overseas by the end of January, the report added.

It should be noted that the Cupertino, California-based tech giant started assembling its latest iPhone models in India only in 2022. Apple started assembling iPhones in India back in 2017, but until 2022, the tech giant was assembling older generation iPhone models in India. Apple launched the iPhone 14 models in September and the company began assembling the new iPhone 14 in the country, 10 days after the global launch of the iPhone 14 series, thus, highlighting Apple’s decreasing dependability on China.

iPhone has three assembly partners in India: Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron and all of them are participating in the PLI scheme and their production is expected to grow in the coming years. India contributed to 3-4 per cent of iPhone manufacturing globally in CY2021 and Counterpoint Research believes it to grow and reach 7-8 per cent by CY2023. 

Apple has been promising to open physical stores in India for quite some time now, but those plans appear to have been delayed due to Covid restrictions. However, a recent report by Indian Express suggests that the iPhone maker may soon launch two retail stores in India. This development comes in the backdrop of media reports suggesting that Apple has also started hiring employees for various retail locations.

Meanwhile, Indian conglomerate Tata Group is mulling to open 100 stores across India that will sell only Apple products.