The tech company has flown 600 tonnes of iPhones to the US from India since March after ramping up production at its plants in the country.
Apple transported five planes full of iPhones and other products from India to the US in just three days during the final week of March, a senior Indian officials confirmed.
The urgent shipments were made to avoid a new 10% reciprocal tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump’s administration that took effect on April 5.
To mitigate the impact, the company rapidly moved inventory from manufacturing centres in India and China to the US, even though this period is typically a slow shipping season.
“Factories in India and China and other key locations had been shipping products to the US in anticipation of the higher tariffs,” according to one source.
Reuters reported that Apple had targeted a 20% increase in production at iPhone plants in India. It did this by increasing the number of workers, and temporarily extending operations at the biggest Foxconn India factory in Chennai to Sundays.
