It was reported late last night that in the last fiscal year, Apple assembled more than $7 billion of iPhones in India, tripling production in the world’s fastest-growing smartphone arena after accelerating a move beyond China.

According to Bloomberg, Apple now makes almost 7% of its iPhones in India through expanding partners from Foxconn Technology Group to Pegatron Corp. That’s a significant leap for India, which accounted for an estimated 1% of the world’s iPhones in 2021.

Of the total production, Apple exported $5 billion of iPhones in the year ending in March,   nearly four times as much as the previous period, the people said. Apple will likely try to manufacture the next iPhones in India at the same time as in China, sometime in the fall of 2023. If so, that will be the first time that iPhone assembly begins concurrently in the two countries. And if the aggressive expansion of its suppliers continues, Apple could assemble a quarter of all its iPhones in India by 2025.

That’s helped place Apple at the heart of India’s ambitions to become a major manufacturing hub and alternative location to China. Apple is among the world’s most exacting when it comes to manufacturing: its production chain encompasses hundreds of companies across the world and employs millions, much of that now in China.

The migration of iPhone production represents an economic triumph for India that could have implications for how other US brands plan their futures. For Apple, the country itself represents a fountain of future growth, at a time the Chinese economy is sputtering after years of punishing Covid Zero restrictions.

Apple has also sought changes in India’s labor laws as part of its effort to expand local production and create mega factories.

Lastly, Bloomberg Intelligence says that their analysis indicates that dependence on China could be reduced by 20-40% in most cases by 2030. It will take years of investment to significantly untangle from China’s complex, efficient and skilled supply chain from semiconductors to hardware to assembly. For more, read the full Bloomberg report.

Other Patently Apple reports on India this week:

01: Apple BKC in Mumbai India is set to open on Tuesday April 18 and Apple Saket in Delhi on Thursday April 20 with Apple's CEO Attending

02: Apple's CEO to meet with India's PM next week just as India is set to introduce new output incentive plans to lure Apple & others away from China

03: Apple reportedly won an 'Exclusive Zone' clause in their Mumbai Store lease that bans 22 tech brands from having a presence near their store