For the first time ever, India has become the biggest supplier of smartphones to the United States, beating China. This major shift is mostly because Apple is now making more of its phones in India.

According to a report by research firm Canalys (now part of Omdia), shipments of smartphones made in India to the US jumped by 240% in the second quarter of 2025. These Indian-made phones now make up 44% of all smartphone imports into the US, a huge rise from just 13% a year ago. Meanwhile, China’s share dropped from 61% to 25%.

Why is this happening?

This change is happening because of two major reasons: ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, and Apple’s growing focus on manufacturing in India. Over the past few years, Apple has been shifting more of its supply chain to India. This includes the production of standard iPhone models like the iPhone 15 and 16, and recently, even some iPhone 16 Pro models have started being assembled in India.

Sanyam Chaurasia, Principal Analyst at Canalys, said: "India became the top manufacturing hub for smartphones sold in the US in Q2 2025, mainly because Apple moved more of its production to India due to the uncertain trade situation with China."

What about other brands?

While Apple is leading the shift, brands like Samsung and Motorola are also sending more India-made phones to the US. However, Samsung still relies mostly on its factories in Vietnam, and Motorola continues to depend on China, although both have increased production in India recently.

The bigger picture

Smartphone makers are now trying to diversify where they make their products. With rising tariffs and changing trade policies, many are trying to reduce their reliance on Chinese factories. India is emerging as a reliable and important manufacturing hub, not just for budget phones, but for premium smartphones too.

Interestingly, even though the supply chains are shifting, the US smartphone market itself only grew by 1% in Q2 2025.Apple’s shipments dropped by 11%, while Samsung’s grew by 38%. Motorola saw a slight increase of 2%, with Google and TCL also among the top five brands.