He underlined that the US tariffs have significantly impacted the iPhone makers’ supply chain without ironing China out entirely, in his response to a question by Erik Woodring, managing director of US technology hardware equity research at Morgan Stanley, during Apple’s March quarter post-earnings analyst call.
“The existing tariffs that apply to Apple today are based on the product’s country of origin. For the June quarter, we expect the majority of iPhones sold in the US will have India as their country of origin, and Vietnam to be the country of origin for almost all iPads, MacBooks, Apple Watches, and AirPods in the US. China would continue to be the country of origin for the vast majority of total product sales outside the US,” Cook said.
His statement underlines the diversification of the long-standing supply chain of Apple, which, at the time of writing, was the most valuable company in the world at $3.2 trillion.
On Thursday, the company reported revenue of $95.4 billion for the March quarter, up 5% year-on-year and above analyst estimates. However, the stock took a beating in the US in the after-market trading, falling 3.8% on tariff concerns and weak global cues.
Cook, on this, said as a result of the impact of Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 2025, the net tariff of 145% on imports of components from China, coupled with a blanket 20% import duty on other geographies, will increase Apple’s cost by $900 million in the June quarter alone.
“The vast majority of our products are currently not subject to the global reciprocal tariffs announced in April, as the commerce department has initiated a Section 232 investigation into imports of semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and downstream products that contain semiconductors,” Cook clarified.
Trade war shocks
Analysts, however, sounded a note of caution about the sweeping impact that Trump’s tariffs-led trade war can have in the long run.
“One big concern kicks in around the stability of the policy and business environment, exposing companies like Apple to the uncertainty of the cost impact they will face in the long run. Such quarterly uncertainty is not good for investors, creating a phase of volatility in the market,” a senior analyst at a top global brokerage firm told Mint on the condition of anonymity, since their formal note on Apple’s latest quarter earnings was not published until press time.
The move towards Indian manufacturing, however, would reassure the domestic electronics market. On 26 April, Mint reported that Apple will ramp up iPhone manufacturing in the country to over 50 million units—more than double the existing production—within the next three calendar years.
Cook further underlined that the three months ended 31 March were yet another period of quarterly revenue record for the India market, and that the company is on course to open “new retail stores in India starting later this year”.
India’s opportunity
With this, India looks set to play a definite role in the long run for the Apple ecosystem, giving the domestic market a significant boost and a long-term customer.
“The only issue here is uncertainty—if Trump goes back on China tariffs by agreeing to a trade deal, that would give Apple fewer reasons to diversify its supply chain. However, given that it is already using India as an export hub during this quarter, the company’s India assembly expansion plan is on course. In a way, over the next three to five years, this gives India the potential to cater to making and exporting up to 100 million iPhones,” said Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president at market research firm, International Data Corporation (IDC) India.
Tata Electronics, the contract manufacturing arm of India’s largest multi-industrial conglomerate, is expected to be the biggest beneficiary of Apple’s push. Mint reported on 26 April that the company is raising its annual capacity of making iPhones in anticipation of Apple increasing its India production volume.
Cook, however, did not offer a quarterly forecast for how its long-term costs might be impacted.
China, though, is not out of the Apple supply chain. Cook affirmed that Apple is using China for supplying demand for its devices, while ramping up sourcing of components from suppliers in the US. Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, the largest in the world, is also a part of this plan, with its plant in Arizona, US, set to cater to Apple in the near future.