Apple India plants operating at full steam to roll out iPhone 17 to the world

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. (Foxconn), which operates the country’s largest production facility near Bengaluru, began test production of the iPhone 17 in April itself, ET reported on Wednesday, citing people aware of the matter. Young women, who make up 90% of the workforce, trained over the last four months to work on the latest models.

India has quickly emerged as a key manufacturing destination for Apple, accounting for 20% of global iPhone production in 2024-25—$22 billion worth of iPhones were assembled in the previous financial year, according to a Bloomberg report. That’s a 60% increase year-on-year.

In the first half of 2025 alone, production surged 53% year-on-year to 23.9 million iPhones, while exports jumped 52% to $22.56 billion. Over 3 million Made-in-India iPhones were shipped in January-March 2025, up from 2.21 million a year earlier, according to IBEF.

In fact, India now supplies nearly half of all iPhones sold in the US. The Made-in-India iPhones are now made available globally on the first day of sale, unlike in the past when China catered to the initial demand.

Foxconn—with its plants at Devanahalli near Bengaluru in Karnataka and Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu—assembles two out of three iPhones in India, while the rest are taken care of by Tata Electronics’ facilities in Narsapura and Hosur in Karnataka, and Tata Pegatron’s unit in Tamil Nadu.

“All of these facilities have come up to speed for the first time to launch all new iPhone models for India, and from India, across the world,” an industry executive told ET.

To be sure, India isn’t playing second fiddle to China as far as iPhone manufacturing is concerned. Apple, which was assembling base-model iPhones in India until 2024, has quickly ramped up iPhone Pro models here. Meaning, all iPhone 17 models are being Made in India, for the world—including the iPhone Air.