NEW DELHI: Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn from India went to the United States between March and May, customs data showed, far above the 2024 average of 50 per cent and a clear sign of Apple’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China, Reuters reported.
The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to countries including the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Britain.
During March-May, Foxconn exported iPhones worth $3.2 billion from India, with an average 97 per cent shipped to the United States, compared to a 2024 average of 50.3 per cent, according to commercially available customs data seen by Reuters.
India iPhone shipments by Foxconn to the US in May 2025 were worth nearly $1 billion, the second-highest ever after the record $1.3 billion worth of devices shipped in March, the data showed.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said China will face 55 per cent tariffs after the two countries agreed on a plan, subject to both leaders’ approval, to ease levies that had reached triple digits.
India is subject, like most U.S trading partners, to a baseline 10 per cent tariff and is trying to negotiate an agreement to avert a 26 per cent “reciprocal” levy that Trump announced and then paused in April.
Apple’s increased production in India drew a strong rebuke from Trump in May. “We are not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves, they are doing very well, we want you to build here,” Trump recalled telling CEO Tim Cook.
In the first five months of this year, Foxconn has already sent iPhones worth $4.4 billion to the US from India, compared to $3.7 billion in the whole of 2024.
Apple has been taking steps to speed up production from India to bypass tariffs, which would make phones shipped from China to the US much more expensive. In March, it chartered planes to transport iPhone 13, 14, 16 and 16e models worth roughly $2 billion to the United States.
Apple has also lobbied Indian airport authorities to cut the time needed to clear customs at Chennai airport in the southern state of Tamil Nadu from 30 hours to six hours, Reuters has reported. The airport is a key hub for
iPhone exports.