India now fills 40% of U.S. smartphones
A McKinsey-cited report says India now supplies about 40% of U.S. smartphone demand that was previously met by China, reflecting a major shift in final assembly locations. The shift is being driven by tariff pressure and buyer diversification, and it signals larger rerouting in electronics supply chains. (cnbctv18.com)
India now supplies about 40% of the U.S. smartphone demand that China used to fill, according to a McKinsey report cited on April 17 and 18. (cnbctv18.com, economictimes.indiatimes.com) The same report said the U.S. replaced nearly two-thirds of the goods it had sourced from China, worth more than $80 billion, by shifting purchases to suppliers including India and Southeast Asian economies. (cnbctv18.com, openthemagazine.com) Trade data had already shown the move in motion in 2025. S&P Global Market Intelligence said India’s share of U.S. smartphone imports reached 42.2% in 2025, up from 13.6% in 2024. (spglobal.com) Quarterly shipment data pointed in the same direction earlier. Canalys said smartphones assembled in India made up 44% of U.S. imports in the second quarter of 2025, while China’s share fell to 25% from 61% a year earlier. (cnbc.com, economictimes.indiatimes.com) The shift is centered on final assembly, the stage where imported parts are turned into finished phones for export. India has expanded that role quickly, but S&P Global said the country’s imports of phone parts still rose 21.9% in 2025, showing that much of the component supply chain remains elsewhere. (spglobal.com) Apple has been the biggest driver. CNBC reported that Apple accelerated production in India as tariff uncertainty and supply-chain risk pushed it to reduce dependence on China, and Indian-made phones shipped to the U.S. rose 240% year over year in the second quarter of 2025. (cnbc.com, economictimes.indiatimes.com) India’s government has spent years trying to build that capacity. The Press Information Bureau said mobile phone exports rose to ₹2 lakh crore in fiscal 2024-25, up from ₹1,500 crore in 2014-15, after production-linked incentive programs and other manufacturing policies. (pib.gov.in, ddnews.gov.in) That does not mean China has disappeared from the business. China still supplies components, still assembles large volumes of electronics, and still held a quarter of U.S. smartphone imports in Canalys’ second-quarter 2025 data. (cnbc.com, economictimes.indiatimes.com) What changed is the map of where a phone gets finished before it reaches an American buyer. On that measure, India has moved from a secondary base to one of the main assembly hubs serving the U.S. market. (spglobal.com, cnbctv18.com)
