Who Will Benefit from Apple’s Supply Chain Problems: India or Vietnam?

Big changes are happening with Apple, and it could affect where iPhones are made. Apple, the world’s biggest company, saw its stock prices drop by 16% recently. The reason for this is because of new tariffs (extra taxes on imports) that have been put on Apple’s products. Right now, China makes about 80% of the 220 million iPhones sold every year. But because of the tariffs, Apple is facing a huge challenge, and the price of iPhones could go up by 40%. This is a big problem, especially since the smartphone market is already slowing down.

In response to these challenges, Apple has started sending more products from factories in India and China to the U.S. India assembles about 15% of iPhones, but it’s facing a 26% tariff, which is still higher than companies expected when they began setting up factories in India. India hasn’t benefited as much as countries like Vietnam, which made some smarter moves, like changing tax laws and signing agreements to help with trade. This makes it harder for India to catch up.

China has also made its own tariffs, making the situation even worse. Vietnam, which has a $123.46 billion trade surplus with the U.S., is offering to reduce its tariffs in exchange for the U.S. lowering theirs. Vietnam might benefit the most from these changes, but India is still in the game. If the tariffs stay the same, India could do better, but it’s hard to predict what will happen next.

One thing is for sure: if more smartphone manufacturing moves to the U.S., it will likely be done by robots, not by American workers.