apple inc assembled more than 7 billion of iphones in india last fiscal year tripling production in the worlds fastestgrowing smartphone arena after accelerating a move beyond chinathe us company now makes almost 7 of its iphones in india through expanding partners from foxconn technology group to pegatron corp people familiar with the matter said thats a significant leap for india which accounted for an estimated 1 of the worlds iphones in 2021apple is exploring ways to reduce its reliance on china as tensions between washington and beijing continue to escalate its longtime partners who make most of the worlds iphones from sprawling factories in china have added assembly lines at a rapid pace over the past year the people said declining to be named as the information isnt publicthe worlds most valuable company struggled last year with chaos at foxconns main iphone city complex in zhengzhou which drove home vulnerabilities in apples supply chain and forced it to cut output estimates at the same time indian prime minister narendra modi has dished out a spate of incentives to boost local manufacturingof the total production apple exported 5 billion of iphones in the year ended march 2023 nearly four times as much as the previous period the people said apple will likely try to manufacture the next iphones in india at the same time as in china sometime in the fall of 2023 if so that will be the first time that iphone assembly begins concurrently in the two countries and if the aggressive expansion of its suppliers continues apple could assemble a quarter of all its iphones in india by 2025 representatives for the us company declined to commenteven before last years iphone city flareup apple had recognized the need to diversify its supply chain it successfully lobbied for incentives in india and pushed suppliers foxconn wistron corp and pegatron to ramp up locally the trio which together employ some 60000 workers in india make models ranging from the aging iphone 11 to the latest iphone 14 in the countrythats helped place apple at the heart of indias ambitions to become a major manufacturing hub and alternative location to china apple is among the worlds most exacting when it comes to manufacturing its production chain encompasses hundreds of companies across the world and employs millions much of that now in chinathe migration of iphone production represents an economic triumph for india that could have implications for how other us brands plan their futures for apple the country itself represents a fount of future growth at a time the chinese economy is sputtering after years of punishing covid zero restrictionsapple will open its first two retail stores in india next week one in the financial hub of mumbai and another in the capital new delhi chief executive tim cook is scheduled to fly in to personally inaugurate the two stores underscoring the domestic markets rising importancecupertino californiaheadquartered apple has also sought changes in indias labor laws as part of its