Apple is shipping 600 tons of iPhones from India to the US to bypass Trump's tariffs - Reuters
Kyiv • UNN
Apple is shipping 1.5 million iPhones to the US from India to avoid Trump's tariffs. The company has increased production in India in an attempt to circumvent high tariffs on imports from China.
Technology giant Apple has chartered cargo flights to ship 1.5 million iPhones to the United States from India after the company increased production in the country in an attempt to counter President Donald Trump's tariffs. The total weight of the cargo being transported is 600 tons, UNN writes with reference to Reuters.
Details
Analysts warn that iPhone prices in the US could rise sharply, given Apple's heavy reliance on imports from China, the main manufacturing center for devices, which is subject to Trump's highest tariff rate of 125%. This figure is significantly higher than the 26% tariff on imports from India. This week, Trump announced a 90-day customs pause on duties, but this did not affect China.
"Apple wanted to beat the tariff," said one source familiar with the tech giant's plans.
The source added that the company was trying to convince the management of the Indian airport to reduce the time required for customs clearance at Chennai Airport in the southern state of Tamil Nadu from 30 hours to six hours.
According to the source, the so-called "green corridor" at the airport of the Indian manufacturing center mimics the model that Apple uses at some airports in China. About six cargo planes with a carrying capacity of 100 tons each have flown since March. One of them was this week, just as the new tariffs came into effect, the source and an Indian government official said.
According to Reuters, the weight of a packaged iPhone 14 and charging cable is about 350 grams. This means that the total cargo weighing 600 tons consisted of about 1.5 million iPhones. The weight of the packaging is also taken into account.
Apple and the Indian Ministry of Aviation did not respond to a request for comment. All sources wished to remain anonymous as the strategy and discussions were private.
Apple sells more than 220 million iPhones a year worldwide. Moreover, according to Counterpoint Research estimates, a fifth of total iPhone imports to the US now come from India, with the rest coming from China.
Addition
The White House insists that US President Donald Trump's vision of Apple's flagship iPhones being manufactured in the US will be realized. However, analysts say this is impossible.
Moving iPhone production to the US will be at least three times more expensive, up to $3,500. This is due not only to more expensive labor, but also to the fact that Apple will need to recreate from scratch the extremely complex high-tech manufacturing ecosystem that currently exists in Asia.