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06-06-2025
NEW DELHI/ BENGALURU: Apple has brought in Tata Group to handle repairs for iPhones and MacBook devices in its fast-growing Indian market, signaling the Indian conglomerate’s deepening role in the US tech giant’s supply chain, two people familiar with the matter said.
As Apple, opens new tab looks beyond China for manufacturing, Tata has fast emerged as its key supplier and already assembles iPhones for local and foreign markets at three facilities in south India, with one of them also making some iPhone components.
In its latest partnership expansion, Tata is taking over the mandate from an Indian unit of Taiwan’s Wistron, ICT Service Management Solutions and will carry out such after-sales repairs from its Karnataka iPhone assembly campus, both sources said.
The market for repairs is only going to boom in India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, as iPhone sales skyrocket. Counterpoint Research estimates around 11 million iPhones were sold in India last year, giving Apple a 7% market share, compared to just 1% in 2020.
The latest contract award signals Apple’s growing confidence on Tata as it hopes to win more business from the world’s most valuable smartphone company.
“Tata’s deepening partnership with Apple could also pave the groundwork for Apple directly selling refurbished devices in India, like how it does in the United States currently,” said Prabhu Ram, a vice president at Cybermedia Research.
The takeover from ICT by Tata is currently ongoing, both sources said, who declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
Apple and Wistron did not respond to requests for comment, while a spokesperson for Tata declined to comment.
While Apple’s official service centres across India can do basic repairs, they would now ship phones and laptops to Tata’s facility for more complex issues.
Wistron’s ICT however will continue to service other clients excluding Apple, one of the sources said.
Amid an impending threat of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China, India is also emerging as a favored destination for iPhone exports. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said the bulk of iPhones sold in the United States during June quarter will be made at factories in India.
Last month, Apple opened new tab aims to make most of its iPhones sold in the United States at factories in India by the end of 2026 and is speeding up those plans to navigate potentially higher tariffs in China, its main manufacturing base, a source told media.
The US tech giant is holding urgent talks with contract manufacturers Foxconn, opens new tab and Tata to achieve that goal, the person, who declined to be named as the planning process is confidential, said on Friday.
Apple and Foxconn did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Tata declined to comment. Apple sells over 60 million iPhones in the US annually with roughly 80% of them made in China currently.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in recent years promoted India as a smartphone manufacturing hub but higher duties on importing mobile phone parts compared to many other countries means it is still expensive for companies to produce in India.
For iPhones, manufacturing costs in India are 5-8% higher than in China, with the difference rising to as much as 10% in some cases, the source said.
Apple has already stepped up production in India to beat US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, shipping some 600 tons of iPhones worth $2 billion to the United States in March.
