Is India Apple’s next frontier?

Yesterday, India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal noted that Apple could make 25% of all iPhones in his country by 2025, up from 5%-7% today.

It’s “another success story” for a major business in the country, he said, according to CNBC.

• Apple holds just 5% of India’s smartphone market. Last year, for the first time since it started manufacturing iPhones in the country, the company built its flagship phone there close to its launch.

Why India?

Doing so could help reduce the iPhone’s price in the country, which could increase Apple’s market share there.  In September, the standard iPhone 14 in India cost 79.9k rupees (~$980), compared to $799 in the US, per TechCrunch.

But the better question to ask instead of “Why India?” may be: “Why not China?”

The answer is that Apple, like much of the tech industry, is looking to move away from a Chinese supply chain that’s vulnerable to intensifying geopolitical risks and a shrinking workforce.

Meanwhile, we’re still unpacking the sight of Jeff Bezos leading Amazon’s fleet of 10k EV rickshaws into India.