Manufacturing iPhones in US Instead of India May Raise Price to $3,000

• Industry experts warn that manufacturing iPhones in the US instead of India could triple the price to around USD 3,000 per device, significantly impacting consumer costs.
• Apple’s shift of production from China to India aims to diversify its supply chain, protecting against geopolitical risks, with India now hosting multiple Apple manufacturing facilities.
• Despite political comments, experts believe Apple will continue investing in India due to cost advantages, tariff benefits, and the scale of production already established.

If the USA begins manufacturing iPhones as contrasted with India, it will cost USD 3,000, which is almost three times the current cost of USD 1,000 per iPhone, said industry leaders while reacting to President Donald Trump. Their reaction came after US President Donald Trump on Thursday stated that he had spoken with Apple CEO Tim Cook and asked him to limit Apple's expansion in India.

Responding to the US President's remarks, Prashant Girbane, Director General of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), stated, "A lot better thought would prevail both in the Apple company and the US administration. They would realise the following facts. First, if they decide to manufacture in the USA as compared to China, India, or Vietnam, a USD 1,000 iPhone would cost USD 3,000. Are American consumers willing to pay USD 3,000 for that iPhone?"

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He mentioned that at the moment 80 percent of Apple manufacturing is in China, creating about 5 million jobs there. When Apple CEO Tim Cook announced there would be plans to manufacturing in India, it meant some manufacturing would be taken out of China, to diversify the supply chain. "The manufacturing and jobs are not moving away from the USA to India, they are moving from China to India so that they would have a diversified supply chain, and American companies and consumers are protected right from the hegemony of one country that is not most friendly with them in terms of trade.," Girbane added.

NK Goyal, Chairman of the Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA), stated, "By now, the world and India know that we have to wait for some time before we react to the statements made by the US President. As far as Apple is concerned, they have turned out more than 22 billion dollars worth of iPhones from India in the last one year. Apple has three manufacturing facilities in India and plans for two more."

He stated that Apple has already moved some of its production from China to India. "It will be the commercial judgment of Apple whether to start manufacturing. They partly moved to India from China. If Apple moves out of India, it will be in big losses because the tariff restrictions are coming up globally and are subject to change very often. We firmly believe, as the Telecom Equipment Manufacturing Association, Apple will not go out of India," Goyal said.

Jaideep Ghosh, former partner at KPMG, said iPhones had Rs 1.75 lakh crores worth of production in India in FY 2025, which ended in March; the total production value last year was Rs 1.2 lakh crores. "Apple ecosystem is quite important for India," he said.

If Apple moved production from India to the US or another Western country, they will face a much greater cost of labor, resulting in production expenses rising. To be competitive, Apple may have to decrease its profit margins, making it financially difficult to relocate their manufacturing despite the strategic benefits of moving closer to Western markets.