Smartphone assembly shifts, China still key
U.S. smartphone assembly has fallen from about 90% in China in 2022 to roughly 25% now, with 75% of assembly moving to India and Southeast Asia — yet many components still come from China, highlighting limits of 'China‑plus‑one' strategies. The shift creates new regional logistics and sourcing complexities even as final assembly relocates. (x.com)
Smartphones sold in the United States are no longer assembled mostly in China: in the second quarter of 2025, India supplied 44% of U.S. smartphone imports and China fell to 25%. (cnbc.com) A year earlier, India’s share was 13% and China’s was 61%, according to Canalys data cited by CNBC. Vietnam also passed China in that quarter, reaching 30% of U.S. smartphone imports. (cnbc.com) The jump was driven largely by Apple moving more United States-bound iPhone assembly to India, while Samsung Electronics and Motorola also shifted some final assembly there, though at a smaller scale. Canalys said India-made smartphone volumes to the U.S. rose 240% from a year earlier. (cnbc.com) Final assembly is the last step: workers and machines put together the screen, battery, cameras, chips, and casing into a finished phone. That step can move countries faster than the parts business can, because component plants need deeper supplier networks and years of investment. (aei.org) That is why China still sits at the center of the smartphone supply chain even after assembly lines move. A June 2025 American Enterprise Institute report said most of Apple’s manufacturing supply chain remains in China and that Apple now sources many components there, not just assembly labor. (aei.org) The same report said China’s role inside Apple’s supply chain has grown over the past decade, with the share of manufacturing facilities in China rising from about 30% to about 50%. It also said Apple’s 2023 supply chain data covered 748 manufacturing locations across 28 countries and 188 supplier companies. (aei.org) Apple’s own supplier list shows why replacement is hard. The fiscal 2023 list says it covered 98% of Apple’s direct spend for materials, manufacturing, and assembly, and page after page lists China locations alongside newer sites in India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines. (s203.q4cdn.com) Counterpoint Research said China, India, and Vietnam together produced more than 90% of the world’s smartphones in 2024. That means production is spreading inside Asia, not leaving the region. (counterpointresearch.com) For companies, the new map creates extra handoffs instead of a clean break. A phone can now use components made in China, move to India or Vietnam for final assembly, and then ship to the United States under a different tariff and logistics path than it used three years ago. (aei.org) The result is a supply chain with more assembly hubs but no easy substitute for China’s component base. The label on the box may change first; the deeper industrial shift takes longer. (aei.org)
