Apple reportedly hurried 600 tons of iPhones — up to 1.5 million individual phones — out of India before President Donald Trump slapped the rest of the world with tariffs.
The tech behemoth chartered flights to India in order to snatch up as many phones as possible, likely to to try to build up its U.S. phone inventory.
Analysts have cautioned that the price of iPhone in the U.S. could spike as the tech company relies on Chinese-produced parts for its phones. Apple's main manufacturing hub is in China, which is currently facing a 125 percent tariff rate from Trump.
Indian imports face a 26 percent tariff rate, but Trump announced a 90-day moratorium on the import tax after he tanked global stock markets with his "Liberation Day" announcement.
Trump faced severe backlash after imposing the tariffs, even from other conservatives. Even Tesla CEO and head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk — one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders, and certainly the wealthiest — griped after he took a massive hit to his personal wealth due to the market reaction to the tariffs. Musk said he wanted to see the U.S. and Europe move toward a zero tariff policy, reportedly personally appealed to Trump to reverse the tariffs, and sniped at the president’s trade czar Peter Navarro on social media.
After doubling down on the tariffs a few times, Trump eventually relented and put a 90-day pause on tariffs. Instead he set a 10 percent tariff across the board, with the exception of China.
Apple sought to exploit this temporary opening to "beat the tariff," a source familiar with the company told Reuters.
The source claimed that Apple lobbied the Indian authorities at Chennai airport to reduce the time it takes to clear customs from 30 hours to six.
Approximately six cargo jets filled with 100 tons of phones each have flown out of the region since March. Prior to "Liberation Day," Trump had already imposed a 20 percent tariff on China.
Apple sells more than 220 million iPhone a year across the world. Counterpoint Research estimates that about one-fifth of total iPhone imports destined for the U.S. are manufactured in India, rather than China.
The tech company has reportedly set a goal to increase production at its Indian iPhone plants by 20 percent. It hopes to attain that goal by adding new workers to its factories and by extending operations at its Foxconn India factor by running shifts on Sundays.
Two sources who spoke to Reuters confirmed that the Foxconn plant in Chennai is running shifts on Sundays. The plant produced 20 million iPhones last year.
Apple isn't the only company rushing to build up its U.S. inventory during the tariff pause. According to the New York Post, German luxury car builder Porsche noted to analysts on Thursday that its first-quarter results would be impacted due to "higher company-owned inventory shipped to the U.S. to beat the tariff deadline."
Porsche hasn't said if it plans to boost its prices in the US, but its rival, Ferrari, has already noted that it will kick the cost for its models up 10 percent to account for the tariffs.
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