NEW DELHI: It may be ‘Advantage India’ for iPhone manufacturing post the US-China tariff war, but Apple does not have any plans to shift production of MacBooks and iPads to India in near future.This is due to the small size of domestic consumption and complexities in setting up supply chain ecosystem, sources have said.
However, in what may be seen as a silver lining for India, Apple has started a feasibility study to consider broadening the India manufacturing base beyond iPhones and AirPods, the sources have told TOI. Apple’s reluctance to manufacture MacBooks here is particularly not a good news for govt as it will not be able to attract the world’s biggest electronics seller to make laptops in India. This is despite announcing a revised and much bigger Rs 17,000 crore IT hardware manufacturing PLI (production-linked incentive) scheme in 2023, against previous Rs 7,350 crore scheme.

“Apple is surely looking at India for more manufacturing, but a lot of this will be concentrated around iPhones, where the supply chain and capacities are robust and large-scale. The tariff situation and US tensions with China, however, have opened up the prospects of a feasibility on MacBooks and even the iPads,” one of the sources said.
Speaking about the reluctance in shifting the production of MacBooks and iPads, the source said the company has told the govt about a “limited sales market” for the products in India.
“This is not the case with iPhones as local sales are robust and thus it helps in being closer to the market through production. Another key factor in not shifting MacBooks and iPad production to India is the fact that it will take three-to-four years to set up a credible and strong supply chain here, much of which will also need to be shifted from China. Also, there is sufficient capacity for the products globally and there is not much need to set up another base,” the source said.
The company has found a sweet spot in India when it comes to making iPhones and has earmarked its factories here as one of the biggest hubs for manufacturing the smartphones beyond China, which was previously the single-largest base. “The idea is to expand in India when it comes to iPhones, not just due to the tariffs but also in line with the China+1 strategy,” another source said.
At present, Taiwan’s Foxconn and Tata group are making iPhones in India and these are primarily being shipped to Apple’s home market in the US as tariffs from China are higher. “A long-term plan is to make India the key hub for supplying iPhones to the US.”