iPhone 17 marks Apple’s first full transition of production to India

• Tata is set to handle up to half of all iPhones made in India over the next two years.
• Just in the four months since April, Apple has exported iPhones worth $7.5b from India, already approaching half of last year’s $17b tally.

Apple is taking a major leap in its global manufacturing strategy by producing all four models of its forthcoming iPhone 17 series in India, a first for the tech giant.

This includes the much-anticipated Pro line, as the company prepares for the September 2025 launch. According to sources, every new iPhone variation destined for markets worldwide—including the US—will ship from India right from day one.

Major manufacturing shift

The move highlights Apple’s acceleration in shifting away from Chinese-based production for US-bound devices. Motivated by ongoing tariff disputes, geopolitical pressures, and previous Covid-linked disruptions in China, Apple has now ramped up its local manufacturing to a total of five Indian plants—two of which have only recently begun operations.

 The clear aim: fulfill the lion’s share of America’s iPhone demand from India going forward.

A big piece of this puzzle involves Indian conglomerate Tata Group. Through its state-of-the-art facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, and a new partnership with Foxconn near Bangalore airport, Tata is set to handle up to half of all iPhones made in India over the next two years.

Just in the four months since April, Apple has exported iPhones worth $7.5 billion from India, already approaching half of last year’s $17 billion tally. Industry sources mark these numbers as factory gate prices, underlining just how fast Apple’s India manufacturing engine is accelerating.

Financial & strategic impacts

Apple’s ongoing geographical pivot is fueled by both necessity and strategy. The company is facing a projected $1.1 billion hit from trade tariffs this period alone.

Although electronics like iPhones are, for now, generally exempt from sector-wide US tariffs, each device may still incur their own individual country import duties.

Over the 12 months through March 2025, $22 billion worth of iPhones were assembled in India—already accounting for a staggering 20% of global iPhone output.

The shift that began with Covid-related shutdowns in China is only strengthening in the face of trade disputes and unpredictable tariff policies, including those held over from Trump-era policy.

Apple’s vote of confidence in India

Beyond manufacturing, Apple is cementing its long-term presence in India with a massive 10-year lease for roughly 270,000 square feet of office space in Bangalore.

The lease, which covers nine contiguous floors (5th through 13th) in the Embassy Zenith tower, begins in April 2025. With a starting rent of Rs235 per square foot and a deposit exceeding Rs31 crore, the deal will see rents increase by 4.5 per cent annually—bringing the total outlay well beyond Rs1,000 crore over the decade, according to Propstack’s documentation.

Apple’s commitment is significant: this investment occurs even as US President Donald Trump has criticised the company’s expansion in India. Yet, Apple remains the largest mobile phone exporter from India, sending iPhones worth Rs1.5 lakh crore overseas in the 2024–25 financial year alone.

The new Bangalore campus will play host to Apple’s growing teams of engineers, while its reach already extends to other tech hubs like Hyderabad.

Spanning both manufacturing and office functions, Apple’s wide-ranging bets in India reaffirm the country’s role as a central pillar in the company’s future—both as a global production base and a strategic international market.