No change to Apple's India iPhone plan for now amid Trump's strictures
Plans to use India as a hub for making more iPhones to supply the US market are on track, as per the company’s current strategy
NEW DELHI : Apple Inc. is not mulling any immediate change to its strategy of manufacturing more devices in India, said a person aware of developments at the Cupertino technology giant on Thursday. As a result, plans to use India as a hub for making more iPhones to supply the US market are on track, as per the company’s current strategy—wherein it seeks to more than double the number of iPhones it makes in India at the moment.
The comments come in light of US President Donald Trump’s statement at an event in Doha, where he claimed to have conveyed to Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, the message not to ramp up manufacturing in India.
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“I said to him, my friend, I am treating you very good [sic]. You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don't want you building in India. You can build in India, if you want to take care of India because India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world, so it is very hard to sell in India," Trump said at the event.
India key to Apple’s production growth
For Apple, India is already a key manufacturing destination, accounting for more than 10% of all iPhones sold every year. Last month, Mint reported that the company is set to more than double its iPhone manufacturing in India within the next three years, with net production crossing 50 million units.
Cook, to be sure, has already confirmed that the company is ramping up production in India. On 1 May, at the company’s March quarter earnings call with analysts, the executive said that he expected “the majority of iPhones sold in the US will have India as their country of origin."
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Therefore, the plan appears to be in place for now. An email sent to Apple for a comment on the matter did not immediately receive a response.
Trump, meanwhile, also claimed that India has offered the US “a deal" to charge “literally no tariffs."
“I said Tim, we are treating you really good, we put up with all the plants you built in China for years. We are not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves," he added.
Industry stakeholders have said that the instability of the US trade tariffs, enforced by Trump on 2 April, could continue to hurt US companies. Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president at IDC India, said that the uncertainty “does not mean much for India’s manufacturing plans, since the regulatory regime does not have a stable narrative that it is currently operating on."
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“This also leaves the India market as exposed as before, showing that India remains dependent on the US for the goals that it has set for itself," Singh added.
Apple’s share price on the US stock exchange Nasdaq was down 0.5% at the time of publishing.
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