Behind Apple’s Decision to Make iPhones in India

Summary

Summary of "Behind Apple’s Decision to Make iPhones in India"
WSJ Tech News Briefing
Release Date: August 8, 2025

In this episode of the WSJ Tech News Briefing, hosted by Bell Lin from The Wall Street Journal, two primary topics are explored: the implications of parental monitoring of children's smartphones and Apple's strategic decision to shift iPhone manufacturing to India in response to U.S. tariff threats.

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1. Parental Access to Children's Smartphones

Discussion Participants:

• Bell Lin – Host
• Julie Jargan – Family and Tech Columnist

Key Points:

• The Necessity of Knowing Passcodes (01:34): Julie Jargan emphasizes the critical importance for parents to have access to their children's phone passcodes. She explains that in cases of emergencies or tragic events, access to a child's phone can provide vital clues about their well-being and potential threats they may be facing.

  "Because if something unfortunately horrible happens... the phone can hold a lot of clues to what might be going on with a child." – Julie Jargan [01:34]

• Transparency with Children (02:21): Jargan advocates for transparency when parents decide to monitor their children's devices. She believes that open communication fosters trust and makes children more receptive to parental guidance.

  "It’s just good parenting practice to be open and up front." – Julie Jargan [02:30]

• Areas to Monitor (03:04): The conversation outlines specific areas parents should check on their children's phones, including social media activities, direct messaging, text messages, and location sharing. Jargan suggests focusing on areas relevant to the child's behavior and potential risk factors, such as bullying in group chats.

  "If your child is... in group chats where there's bullying, maybe you focus on the group chats." – Julie Jargan [03:04]

• Parental Control Technologies (04:04): While acknowledging the existence of parental control settings and third-party monitoring apps, Jargan expresses skepticism about their reliability. She points out that these tools can miss critical information or generate false alarms, underscoring the need for active parental involvement rather than solely relying on technology.

  "I feel like you can't rest easy and expect tech to do that job for you." – Julie Jargan [04:15]

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2. Apple's Strategic Shift to India for iPhone Manufacturing

Discussion Participants:

• Bell Lin – Host
• Tripti Lahiri – WSJ South Asia Bureau Chief

Key Points:

• Preempting Tariffs (05:27): Apple’s move to manufacture iPhones in India is highlighted as a strategic response to potential tariff increases proposed by President Trump. By shifting production to India, Apple aims to mitigate the impact of these tariffs.

  "Moving more of Apple's iPhone manufacturing to India and shifting it out of China has been one of CEO Tim Cook's secret weapons in getting ahead of President Trump's recent tariff threats." – Bell Lin [05:27]

• Tariff Exemptions and Costs (06:28): Lahiri explains that currently, iPhones manufactured in India do not incur tariffs, allowing Apple to avoid the 20% tariffs imposed on iPhones from China. However, she notes uncertainty about the longevity of this exemption. Apple is already facing significant tariff-related costs, amounting to approximately $800 million in the June quarter and an expected $1.1 billion in the next quarter.

  "So for iPhones from India, Apple is actually being able to take advantage of an exemption that's in place right now... Apple is paying about 20% on iPhones from China." – Tripti Lahiri [06:28]

• Historical Context and Strategy (07:56): The decision to begin manufacturing in India dates back nearly a decade, with significant momentum gained during the first Trump administration. A pivotal meeting between Tim Cook and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016 set the stage for this strategic shift. Initially, only a small number of phones were produced in India, but production has since grown substantially.

  "At one point there was a time when just every iPhone was likely coming out of China... but following a meeting between Tim Cook and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi around 2016, the following year a very small number of phones started to be produced in India." – Tripti Lahiri [07:56]

• Current Production Landscape (08:38): As of 2024, estimates suggest that India accounts for approximately 14% of Apple’s iPhone production, with expectations that this share will double within the year. Despite this growth, China remains dominant, responsible for around 80% of final assembly, and plays a crucial role in producing numerous iPhone components.

  "China still is really important... when you talk about the final manufacturing, China's at around 80% still so pretty significant number." – Tripti Lahiri [08:41]

• Challenges and Future Prospects (09:31): Lahiri discusses the challenges India faces in matching China's manufacturing capabilities, citing a significant gap in precision manufacturing expertise. Despite these hurdles, India is actively enhancing its manufacturing infrastructure and supply chain processes, aiming to gradually reduce dependence on China, though some estimates suggest it may take 15 to 20 years to close the gap.

  "It's very difficult to get absolute numbers... but there's a huge difference in capabilities. India may be 15 to 20 years away from where China is today." – Tripti Lahiri [09:31]

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Conclusion

This episode of Tech News Briefing provides insightful discussions on two distinct yet impactful technology-related topics. Julie Jargan underscores the critical role of parental oversight in ensuring children's safety in the digital age, while Tripti Lahiri elucidates Apple's strategic maneuvering to navigate international trade challenges by diversifying its manufacturing base. Together, these segments highlight the intersection of technology with personal safety and global economic strategies.

Transcript

[Comcast Business]

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[Bell Lin]

Welcome to Tech News briefing. It's Friday, August 8th. I'm Bell Lin for the Wall Street Journal. Our phones hold all sorts of information about our lives. They give insight into our friendship, romantic relationships, our work and play. But they also hold danger for kids whose stressors and anxieties can be seen through how they use their devices. So should parents be snooping through their kids phones more then speaking of phones, Apple made a series of prescient moves that have helped it get ahead of President Trump's tariffs. That includes setting a plan in motion years ago to make iPhones in India. We'll dig into how Apple made it happen. But first, your child might seem happy and well behaved, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're safe from a potential world of danger through their phone. Our family and tech columnist Julie Jargan joins us to make the case that you should be snooping on your kid's phone and why knowing your child's passcode is non negotiable. Julie, let's start with that. Why should parents know their kids phone passcodes?

[Julie Jargan]

Because if something unfortunately horrible happens, you know, there's some sort of emergency or your child goes missing without their phone, or some sort of tragic thing happens, you will not be able to get into their phone ever if you don't have their passcode. And that phone can hold a lot of clues to what might be going on with a child. I recently interviewed several families whose teens sadly ended their lives after being targeted in sextortion schemes. And in these cases, these parents were able to access their kids phones but they didn't know what was going on in the moment or beforehand. And they probably never would have known what exactly caused their kids to take their lives if they hadn't been able to go into their phones and learn that their children were being extorted and threatened.

[Bell Lin]

And let's talk about the kids too. So why is it important to be transparent with kids that you're doing the phone check in the first place?

[Julie Jargan]

It's just good parenting practice to be open and up front. And you know, if you don't want your kids sneaking around, you shouldn't be sneaking around either. And just to kind of let them know you're starting out owning this phone and there are a lot of dangers out there that I as a parent need to help protect you against. And If I don't know what those are, what's going on on your phone, I can't adequately protect you or provide guidance. And so the deal is I'm going to occasionally check your phone and see, you know, who's reaching out to you and what apps you have and those.

[Bell Lin]

Kinds of things and give us a sense of what are the things to actually check on the phones.

[Julie Jargan]

So the things to check for include social media apps. If you do allow your child to have social media, you kind of want to understand not only what they're posting, but who they're following and who's following them and who they're communicating with in the direct messaging chats within those social media apps. Also text messages, whether it's the built in text messages app within their phones or other apps like WhatsApp or Signal, just taking a look at those as well as some of the chats that are on, video games like Roblox that have the in app messaging systems just to make sure there aren't strange adults that are chatting with them. You can look at their camera roll, you can look at who they're sharing their location with, you can go through the list. But it kind of depends on the trouble areas. Like you probably don't need to look at every single thing and do a comprehensive phone sweep all the time. But if your child is like doing fine with social media, but tends to be in group chats where there's bullying, maybe you focus on the group chats and trying to step in and provide some guidance on how to interact in those situations.

[Bell Lin]

And one thing that just came to mind, I wonder if there are technology aids that can help with this. Settings on phones or within apps that are sort of like parental controls. Do you recommend those as well?

[Julie Jargan]

There are certainly parental controls and there are third party apps that do monitoring and provide alerts to parents for things like discussions of suicidal ideation, for example, might trigger a notification to a parent to look more closely at what's going on. Some parents like having those, but I feel like a lot either gets missed by that or is falsely flagged. So I feel like you can't rest easy and expect tech to do that job for you.

[Bell Lin]

That was WSJ family and tech columnist Julie Jargan. Coming up, Apple got the jump on President Trump's tariff threats and it did so by deciding years ago to make iPhones in India. We go behind the scenes of that decision and how India's manufacturing capacity is shaping up. That's after the break.

[Comcast Business]

With leading networking and connectivity advanced Cybersecurity and expert partnership. Comcast business helps turn today's enterprises into engines of modern business powering the engine of modern business powering possibilities. Restrictions apply.

[Bell Lin]

Moving more of Apple's iPhone manufacturing to India and shifting it out of China has been one of CEO Tim Cook's secret weapons in getting ahead of President Trump's recent tariff threats. WSJ South Asia Bureau Chief Tripti Lahiri joins us to discuss how Apple's strategy is panning out and the steps India has taken to bolster its tech manufacturing capabilities. Tripty President Trump's tariffs are constantly in flux. He recently said he would impose roughly 100% tariffs on all chips coming into the US but exempt tech companies that have promised to manufacture domestically, which seems like a big win for Apple. And additionally, Trump said imports from India would be hit with an extra 25% levy as punishment for buying Russian oil on top of a 25% tariff that it already faces. So with all that being said, what's the latest on how much Apple pays for tariffs for iPhones from India?

[Tripti Lahiri]

So for iPhones from India, Apple is actually being able to take advantage of an exemption that's in place right now. So right now those phones don't incur any tariff and we don't know how long that exemption is going to be in place. But that is definitely why so many of the iPhones that are being shipped to the US are coming from India. But Apple is paying about 20% on iPhones from China. And they did offer a bit of a sense of what tariffs are costing them both this quarter and for the next quarter. They said that they are facing about 800 million tariff related costs in the June quarter and for the next quarter they expect, if everything stays the same, about $1.1 billion in tariff related costs. The large tech companies, and Apple in particular, have been quite good at realizing that Trump wants to see them publicly committing to the US and making big headline investment announcements for the US and so Apple has been doing that and to some extent that has helped them gain these kind of carve outs. The latest announcement of tariffs on chips, for example, came but Tim Cook was right there and the administration has signaled that if you're investing in big time in the US you're maybe not going to face those highest, most penalizing tariffs.

[Bell Lin]

Let's backtrack a little bit and go back to the start where Apple CEO Tim Cook set the stage for iPhone production in India years ago. How long ago did that plan get set into motion?

[Tripti Lahiri]

It's close to A decade now. At one point there was a time when just every iPhone was likely coming out of China and that was actually quite good for Apple. China is enormously efficient. China also became a big buyer of iPhones. But at a certain point, starting in the first Trump administration, Tim Cook and Apple started to realize that it had a lot of eggs in that one basket. And following a meeting between Tim Cook and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi around 2016, the following year a very small number of phones started to be produced in India. And it's grown since then pretty significantly. And at the most recent earnings update, Tim Cook said that most of the phones that are coming to the US now are actually assembled in India.

[Bell Lin]

How does that compare to how many are produced in China?

[Tripti Lahiri]

It's very difficult to get absolute numbers. These are closely guarded secrets in the industry. But I would say that probably reliable estimates have put the share of Apple iPhone production that India accounts for at around 14% as of 2024. That's an estimate from the tech research firm Tech Insights and they actually expect that share to double this year. But to your other question, China still is really important. It's not just the final stage of assembly, which is what India is doing now, but China produces many, many of the parts that go into the iPhones. Every step along the way, China has a presence, but when you talk about the final manufacturing, China's at around 80% still so pretty significant number.

[Bell Lin]

Apple has faced some challenges manufacturing in India as well. What are those challenges? Has India yet caught up with China when it comes to these tech manufacturing capabilities?

[Tripti Lahiri]

For now, it's definitely no. In fact it's a very big gap still just in terms of different kinds of manufacturing know how precision manufacturing, China just has had a huge head start. And even at the time that the iPhone was invented, background 2007 China already had a pretty robust manufacturing ecosystem which India is kind of now starting to put in place. So there's a huge difference in capabilities. That said, India has really been trying to speed up just the volume of iPhones that are being assembled here is bigger than in the past. And they are trying in different states where this manufacturing happens to really look at, okay, what's next? So what's the part that goes into the iPhone that I could reasonably expect to produce given my know how now? And they're trying to go after that. There may be some estimates would say 15 to 20 years away from where China is today. And I'm talking just about the supply chain, but they're definitely trying to work very hard on it in a really concerted way. But it's difficult to say where exactly things go in. And a lot could depend on how these tariffs and trade war winds shift.

[Bell Lin]

That was WSJ South Asia Bureau chief trip to Lahiri. And that's it for Tech News Briefing. Today's show was produced by Julie Chang, logging off for the weekend. I'm your host, Bell Lynn. Jessica Fenton and Michael Lavall wrote our theme music. Our development producer is Aisha El Musleam. Scott Salloway and Chris Sinsley are the deputy editors. And Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. We'll be back later this morning with TNB Tech Minute. Thanks for listening.

[Comcast Business]

With leading networking and connectivity, advanced cybersecurity and expert partnership, Comcast business helps turn today's enterprises into engines of modern business powering the engine of modern business powering possibilities. Restrictions apply.