Apple’s India pivot is making China insecure. Baidu users call it a ‘reluctant migration’

In China, Apple’s expansion into India is being seen less as a strategic realignment and more as a reluctant hedge | Photo: Reuters

Apple’s pivot to India has struck a nerve in China, prompting a flurry of sharp responses across state media and online forums. A supply chain adjustment is being reframed in Beijing as a cautionary tale about Western fickleness, India’s limitations, and China’s enduring industrial strength.

Though Apple has been exploring manufacturing alternatives for a while, this latest shift has reignited the debate with fresh urgency. Chinese commentators have seized the moment, especially in light of American President Donald Trump’s revived tariff threats on Apple products made outside the US – including in India – to issue broader warnings.

The conversation has shifted beyond India’s manufacturing capacity to the strategic risks of decoupling from China: Can ‘Made in India’ truly replace ‘Made in China’? And can Apple replicate its China playbook elsewhere? For many in the country, the answer is a firm no.

Dismissive commentary

In Chinese discourse, Apple’s so-called migration is being portrayed as reluctant and externally driven. The prevailing view is that India, beyond offering cheap labour, contributes little that is of strategic value. Most components are still sourced from China, with India’s weaker infrastructure and higher operational costs making the shift more symbolic than substantive.

This narrative reflects a broader tendency to downplay India’s potential and emphasise its industrial shortcomings – low yield rates, fragmented supply chains, labour unrest, and persistent quality issues. Job creation aside, the argument goes, India risks remaining an assembly hub without deeper production capabilities. In contrast, China continues to dominate high-end manufacturing and core component production, reinforcing its lead in innovation.

A Weibo post claims that Apple’s continued reliance on China is not due to labour costs but due to a skilled talent pool and business-friendly policies. It dismisses India, and many countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, as lacking these core advantages. India, the Weibo user contends, is harder to navigate and less profitable.

Some commentary veers into open hostility and racism: “Who dare use a curry-flavoured mobile phone?”

India: a backup plan

Apple’s expansion into India is being seen less as a strategic realignment and more as a reluctant hedge – driven not by confidence in India’s capabilities but by geopolitical anxiety. Prominent Chinese economist Fan Gang, president of the China Development Institute, attributes the United States’ unease to China’s continued rise.

On platforms such as WeChat and Baidu, users frame the move as reactive. “Even Trump,” one post notes, “wants jobs brought back to the US, not handed to India.” The ‘America First’ agenda, they argue, undercuts offshoring to low-cost economies like India.

Chinese analysts highlight India’s structural constraints: poor infrastructure, an underdeveloped industrial base, and continued dependence on Chinese components. Xiang Ligang, Director General of Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, notes that modern manufacturing depends less on wages and more on infrastructure and industrial integration – areas where India still falls short.

Even those who recognise India’s potential remain sceptical. Zhang Jiadong, associate research fellow at Fudan University, points to the positives: India’s young population, vast labour pool, and improving industrial base. But he also highlights its incomplete supply chains and weaker state coordination compared to China’s strategic industrial planning.

Apple’s massive footprint in China is cited as evidence that decoupling remains a political illusion. Over 80 per cent of iPhones are still made in China, supported by more than 150 top-tier suppliers and critical capabilities in rare earth processing and precision assembly. In this view, Apple’s current strategy is best described as “China-plus”—a diversification tactic to placate Washington, not a real departure from Beijing. If Apple indeed withdraws from China, it is the tech giant, not Chinese consumers or manufacturers, that stands to lose the most. This “lose-lose” scenario reflects the deep entanglements caused by globalisation, and prompts fresh reflection on the future of global supply chains, a Baidu commentary added.

Across online forums, Apple’s India move is being framed as symbolic. As one Baidu user post puts it, “Foxconn’s Zhengzhou makes 150 million iPhones a year. India? Just 30 million.” Any meaningful shift, if it comes at all, is being seen as years away.

The consensus is that, though India is gaining importance, China remains at the centre of Apple’s manufacturing gravity. Labour may be cheaper elsewhere, but China offers scale, sophistication, and state-backed stability. As commentator Zhang Quan argues, Apple’s move reflects pressure, not belief. According to another commentator, Xu Sanlang, while Indian manufacturing is growing rapidly, it’s a long way from China in terms of scale, diversity, and competitiveness.

Much of the Chinese discourse is outdated and deliberately focused on limitations. The India pivot clearly unsettles China. Even where its potential is acknowledged, the narrative quickly shifts to global interdependence, where China is portrayed as indispensable. This reveals not only deep insecurity but also China’s instinct to contain India – on the border and in the economic arena.

Sana Hashmi is a fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation. She tweets @sanahashmi1. Views are personal. 

(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)