Canalys: Nearly half of Q2 2025’s smartphones brought into the US are made in India
When compared to the same quarter in 2024, shipments grew by 1%.
By now, anyone who’s not living under a rock would know that the U.S. tariffs are partly designed to help shift its manufacturing capabilities domestically. However, it doesn’t look like everything is going according to plan.
According to Canalys’ Q2 2025 smartphone volume shipment report, the U.S. smartphone market saw a modest 1% increase in shipments. Canalys attributes it to device makers “frontloading” their phone stocks in a bid to shore up against uncertain tariff changes.
That, however, is not the shocker. Phones shipped into the U.S. typically come from several sources outside its borders, and those assembled in China fell by 61% year-over-year. Replacing that shortfall are handsets made in India, which have increased by 240% in the same comparative timeframe.
As shown by Canalys here:
Comparison of phone shipments by country. Q2 2024 on the left, Q2 2025 on the right.
“Apple built up its inventories rapidly toward the end of Q1 and sought to maintain this level in Q2. Samsung scaled up its inventory stock in Q2, boosting its shipments to grow 38% year on year, predominantly driven by Galaxy A-series devices. Yet, the market only grew 1% despite vendors frontloading inventory, indicating tepid demand in an increasingly pressured economic environment and a widening gap between sell-in and sell-through. Even if smartphones remain exempted from tariffs, many other categories are impacted, which might greatly impact consumers’ spending patterns and keep smartphone demand modest in H2,” said Runar Bjorhovde, Senior Analyst at Canalys (now part of Omdia).
Phone shipments by brand, Q2 2024 and 2025 compared.
What hasn’t changed is the market’s inherent loyalty to its homegrown brands. In Q2 2025, Apple remains the top player in the U.S. phone market, despite an 11% decline in shipments (Q2 2025 versus Q2 2024). Samsung brought in 38% more than last year, a difference of 2.3 million units, but it remains firmly in second place for market share.
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that there will be no further deadline extensions for his tariffs, implementing a “15% to 20%” range (or “probably one of those two numbers”). His world tariff rates are set to begin on 1 August 2025.
Source: Canalys