Apple's push to shift production out of China is accelerating fast, and iPhone Made in India is at the heart of that strategy. A J.P. Morgan report projects that by 2025 one in every three iPhones sold globally will be manufactured in India, marking a dramatic ramp-up from the country's current output.
iPhone Made in India: The J.P. Morgan Forecast
Apple began assembling iPhones in India back in 2017 through a partnership with Wistron, and Foxconn later joined as a second manufacturing partner. Despite this early start, China has remained the dominant production hub. That is now set to change at scale.
According to the J.P. Morgan analysis, Apple plans to shift roughly 5% of iPhone 14 production to India by the end of the year. Looking further ahead, the same report forecasts that by 2025 as many as 25% of all Apple products — including Macs, iPads, Apple Watches, and AirPods — will be produced outside China, up from about 5% today. Taiwanese contract manufacturers Hon Hai (Foxconn) and Pegatron are central to executing this plan on the ground in India.
Tata Group Enters the Picture
The expansion story gained a new dimension when Bloomberg reported that the Tata Group is in advanced talks to partner with Wistron Corp. to manufacture iPhones. If the deal closes, Tata would become the first Indian conglomerate to build an iPhone. The arrangement could go further: Tata may acquire a stake in Wistron's Indian operations, and both companies have discussed jointly setting up a brand-new assembly plant in the country.
Jobs and Workforce Growth
The manufacturing shift carries significant employment implications. Foxconn's Indian plant currently employs around 20,000 workers — a fraction of the 3,50,000 staff at its Chinese facilities. With new plants on the horizon, the company is reported to be targeting a workforce of 50,000 in India, potentially creating around 30,000 new jobs in the process.
Why India, Why Now?
Apple's diversification drive is driven by a desire to reduce over-reliance on a single country for production. India offers a large and growing labour force, government incentives under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, and improving infrastructure. The combination of strategic necessity and local opportunity makes India Apple's most important manufacturing destination outside China.
With Hon Hai, Pegatron, Wistron, and potentially Tata all ramping up operations, the Made in India label on iPhones is set to shift from a niche badge to mainstream reality well before the decade is out.
