India’s smartphone sector is booming, says India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) in its statement that revealed exports in the smartphone sector surged 39 per cent year-on-year in August, 2025.
Smartphone exports to the US saw a three-fold increase in the same time period, reaching USD 8.43 billion in the first five months of FY26 from USD 2.88 billion during the same period in FY25, the statement informed.
Countering claims of a decline in exports of smartphones, the cellular body said the US figure for April-August 2025 has already reached nearly 80 per cent of the entire FY25 US exports total of USD 10.56 billion.
"Smartphone exports in August 2025, in contrast to the claims made, have increased by 39 per cent from USD 1.09 billion in August 2024 to USD 1.53 billion in August 2025. Further, exports to the US more than doubled, increasing by 148 per cent, from USD 388 million in August 2024 to USD 965 million in August 2025," said the association, which is represented by industry biggies.
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On reports of a decline in smartphone exports to the US, both for August and the five-month period across the current and previous fiscals, ICEA’s chairman, Pankaj Mohindroo, said exports usually drop in the months of August and September amidst new launches by companies near the end of September and in October, ahead of the festive season.
"Every export sector has its particular nuances based on multiple factors. Oversimplification of trade data – and worse – inferences based on monthly comparisons are misleading and avoidable," said Mohindroo, adding that global customers who await the launch of new models sharply reduce their purchase of smartphones during August.
"It's also worth noting that the smartphone sector has been the best performing export sector in India over the last five years since the launch of the PLI scheme, increasing its position from 167th in FY15 to India's largest export by HS code by FY25," it said.
Referring to a recent commentary that has "drawn improper conclusions related to smartphone exports by cherry-picking data, leading to wrong inferences and without proper context", ICEA said that "the record needs to be set straight".
Think-tank GTRI on Monday said India's smartphone exports to its largest market, the US, fell 58 per cent from USD 2.29 billion in May to USD 964.8 million in August.
It said that the development is alarming and counterintuitive, as there are no tariffs on smartphones.
Mohindroo said export data over the last five years shows that exports of smartphones are usually lowest during August and the first half of September, and that as prudent practice, trade data is usually compared across similar periods of different fiscals, and rarely across months in a single fiscal, to conclude meaningful trends.
In fact, shared ICEA, customers who buy older models also await the launch of new models since these are accompanied by deep discounts on older models, leading to a drop in exports of older models.
In fact, August and early September also see large-scale retrofitting of plant and machinery to prepare for new models, which leads to a reduction in output and in turn, exports. This is carefully planned to coordinate with demand, the statement said.
"Finally, during September and early October, depending on Diwali and dates of festivals in India, exports drop till early- to mid-October since companies divert production to serve the peak in domestic festival-led consumption," the statement further shared.
However, global exports pick up after Diwali since international demand increases for all models, especially during Thanksgiving holidays, Black Friday, Christmas and New Year sales in western countries.
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