Can India really innovate?
It has won the iPhone wars. What next?
India is becoming Apple’s factory floor. The world’s leading gadget-maker now assembles nearly one in five of its iPhones in the country. By 2026 it hopes to make all the handsets it sells in America in Indian plants, a shift that has irritated President Donald Trump. Foxconn, its biggest supplier, recently pledged another $1.5bn to expand local operations. It is not alone: over the past decade India’s electronics industry has grown five-fold. For firms looking to reduce their dependence on China, India is increasingly attractive.
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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Innovate or die”
From the June 14th 2025 edition
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