More than $7 billion worth of iPhones were assembled in India during Apple’s last fiscal year, Bloomberg reported, as the smartphone giant’s suppliers accelerated a shift out of China.

The news outlet noted this represented a tripling of production in the country for the period. It came at a time of rising trade tensions between China the US, and covid-19 (coronavirus) related supply chain constraints.

Apple is in the process of establishing India as a major manufacturing hub, as it steps up a transfer of production out of China.

In August 2022, it reportedly pressed contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) and Pegatron to assemble products in India and Vietnam to diversify their supply chains.

Kuo Ming-Chi, an Apple analyst with TF International Securities, said in late 2022 the vendor aimed to shift up to 45 per cent of iPhone production to India, from between 2 and 4 per cent previously.

The Indian government awarded INR450 billion ($5.5 billion) in incentives to domestic and international electronics companies to boost smartphone production over the next five years.

Apple started manufacturing its iPhone 13 in India in 2022. It began shifting iPhone production to the country in 2017.

Last week, the company laid out plan to open its first retail store in India as it continues a push to increase sales in the country.