Apple Likely To Shift All US iPhone Assembly To India: Report

Apple is reportedly considering shifting assembly of all iPhones for the US market to India. Reuters, citing a source, reported that the tech giant will make this crucial shift by the end of next year. The iPhone maker is aiming to navigate potentially higher tariffs in China, its main manufacturing location. Meanwhile, Apple has made no official comment on this development.

Additionally, the report says that Apple is holding urgent talks with contract manufacturers Foxconn and Tata to achieve the latest goal. The Cupertino-based company has been diversifying its iPhone production away from China. The US market consumes over 60 million iPhones from Apple each year, with China currently responsible for assembling about 80% of them. Meanwhile, the source also told Reuters that manufacturing costs for iPhones in India are 5-8% higher than in China, with the difference rising to as much as 10% in certain cases.

Apple has already shipped almost $2 billion worth of handsets from India to the US in March. Even with this progress, the company still depends on nearly 200 suppliers based in China. Bloomberg Intelligence predicts it might take eight years to move only 10% of Apple's production capacity from China, reported CNBC.