NEW DELHI: Despite US President Donald Trump’s regular rants about Apple’s manufacturing in India, company CEO Tim Cook on Thursday confirmed what is generally now more or less known – the “majority” of iPhones sold in the US in the past quarter were Made in India. China – the erstwhile production giant – is only playing a second fiddle and is used more to service non-US markets.Cook, speaking to analysts post the company’s quarterly results, said India has been the mainstay when it comes to producing iPhones for the US, while Vietnam is the location for making other products for America such as MacBook, iPad, and Watch.“In terms of the country of origin, it’s the same as I referenced last quarter. There hasn’t been a change to that, which is the vast majority of the iPhone sold in the US or the majority, I should say, have a country of origin of India,” the Apple CEO said when asked about China versus India production plans.On China, Cook had this to say, “… the products for other international countries, the vast majority of them are coming from China.”While the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on India earlier this week, smartphones, computers and other electronics devices are exempted from the reciprocal tariffs for now.Trump, however, has been pushing Apple and Cook not to make the iPhones in India for meeting the needs of the US consumers. “I had a little problem with Tim Cook… I said to him, my friend, I am treating you very good… but now I hear you are building all over India. I don’t want you building in India,” he had said during his visit to Doha in May.Cook’s clear stance on India manufacturing, however, is being seen as a signal that the American electronics giant stays bullish on India, especially as the country is also consistent in showing strong growth when it comes to local sales.Cook said that revenues in India are witnessing record growth, led by the growth in sales of iPhones. India is among the high growth markets for Apple which recorded 10% growth globally in its quarterly revenues which closed the quarter at $94 billion.“We saw an acceleration of growth around the world in the vast majority of markets we track, including greater China and many emerging markets, and we had June quarter revenue records in more than two dozen countries and regions, including the US, Canada, Latin America, Western Europe, the Middle East, India, and South Asia. These results were driven by double-digit growth across iPhone, Mac, and services.”The Apple CEO also said the company is in the process of expanding its retail presence in India by opening more stores. On sales, India was again amongst the high-growth countries. “We saw iPhone growth in every geographic segment and double-digit growth in emerging markets including India, the Middle East, South Asia, and Brazil.”And commenting on the global impact of US tariffs across regions (but without identifying any particular country), Cook said the “situation around tariffs is evolving.”“… so let me provide some colour there. For the June quarter, we incurred approximately $800 million of tariff-related costs. For the September quarter, assuming the current global tariff rates, policies, and applications do not change for the balance of the quarter, and no new tariffs are added, we estimate the impact to add about $1.1 billion to our costs. This estimate should not be used to make projections for future quarters, as there are many factors that could change, including tariff rates.”
