Apple rings up record run in India's phone exports amid US tariff threat

Apple Inc has led the charge despite concerns that it might slow its expansion in India. Its iPhone exports rose 63 per cent to $7.5 billion in April-July this year, compared with $4.6 bn a year ago

Amid tariff disruptions and the threat of 50 per cent duties on Indian exports to the US, smartphone exports have once again broken records. In the four-month period from April to July 2025-26 (FY26), exports touched the $10 billion mark, up 52 per cent from $6.4 billion in the same period of 2024-25 (FY25), according to industry estimates.

 

Apple Inc has led the charge despite concerns that it might slow its expansion in India. Its iPhone exports rose 63 per cent to $7.5 billion in April–July this year, compared with $4.6 billion a year ago.

 

Apple’s three vendors — Foxconn, Pegatron, and Tata Electronics — contributed over $7.5 billion of the $10 billion total, accounting for 75 per cent of smartphone exports. All three are participants in the government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphones, which is now in its final year and ends in March 2026.

 

Samsung, in contrast, has seen a decline. With its PLI scheme having ended in March 2025, its exports fell from $1.54 billion in April–July FY25 to $1.24 billion in the same period of FY26. Experts say this highlights India’s continuing cost disadvantages compared with China and Vietnam, even though smartphones remain exempt from US tariffs under the April 11, 2025, exemption list. Both Apple and Samsung declined to comment at the time of going to press.

 

Tariffs on smartphones will depend on the outcome of a Section 232 semiconductor investigation that also covers products such as smartphones and personal computers. Apple largely ships iPhones from China, while Samsung relies on Vietnam. The investigation, announced on April 16 by the US Department of Commerce, was expected to conclude by mid-August but is now likely to be finalised in early September.

 

For now, exports from India face zero duty, while China pays 20 per cent. However, the US could still alter the playing field by imposing differential tariffs under Section 232.

 

Driven by the surge in smartphone shipments, India’s electronics exports grew 43.7 per cent in the first four months of FY26, rising to $16.16 billion from $11.24 billion a year ago, according to the Department of Commerce. Smartphones accounted for 41 per cent of electronics exports in April–July FY25, and 61.8 per cent in the same period of FY26 — a near 50 per cent increase in their share of overall electronics exports.