Sources: Apple's Wistron contractor in India has begun exporting 70%-80% of iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 units assembled to European markets
Gulveen Aulakh / The Economic Times :
Context & Ripple Effects
This report closes the loop on a bet Apple placed two years earlier, when it started assembling the iPhone SE at Wistron's Bengaluru plant as a low-volume, India-for-India play. Exporting 70%-80% of assembled iPhone 6s and 7 units to Europe flips that logic: the Bengaluru line is no longer serving domestic demand, it is plugged into global supply.
That flip is what makes the later trajectory legible — the same plant went on to build key components, and by 2024 Apple was making roughly 14% of all iPhones in India, with exports running well ahead of the prior fiscal year.
First-order effects
- Wistron's India operation changes character overnight: from a tariff-driven local assembly site into an export hub whose output is measured against European demand rather than Indian sales.
- Apple gains a second geography for older-model iPhone supply to Europe, reducing its dependence on any single assembly country for those units.
Second-order effects
- Export-grade output forces Wistron up the value chain locally — consistent with its subsequent move to assemble key iPhone components in Bengaluru rather than just final assembly.
- Rival contract manufacturers and Apple's other suppliers face pressure to match an India export footprint, since Apple has demonstrated it will route global volume, not just domestic volume, through Indian plants.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, iPhone production structurally rebalances: Apple's stated aim of 50M+ annual units in India implies a quarter of global output sourced there, converting India from a niche assembly location into a co-equal pillar alongside existing hubs.
- Sustained export flows also give Indian policymakers proof that incentive-led electronics manufacturing can capture global markets, shaping how future supplier investments and trade policy get negotiated.
The trend: Apple's India strategy is maturing from token domestic assembly into full export-scale manufacturing, with Wistron's Bengaluru plant as the proving ground.