The Indian government’s 2026–27 budget introduced a five-year exemption on import duties and corporate taxes for foreign-owned machinery supplied to contract manufacturers operating in designated customs-bonded zones, effectively treating these facilities as outside the domestic customs border through fiscal 2030–31. This policy removes tax liability on capital goods—such as precision milling and assembly lines—used by Foxconn and Tata to produce iPhones and other Apple devices in southern and western India. Apple’s India revenue climbed by more than 20% year-over-year in the most recent quarter, driven by local assembly, and this exemption is expected to reduce equipment costs by up to 15%, further strengthening Apple’s margin profile in a market where it has secured double-digit quarterly growth but still holds less than 5% market share of mobile shipments.

Recent departures of at least four senior AI researchers—Yinfei Yang, Haoxuan You, Bailin Wang and Zirui Wang—to Meta and Google’s DeepMind highlight growing retention challenges in Apple’s machine-learning division. Bloomberg sources report that these exits, including that of executive Stuart Bowers, reflect internal frustration over Apple’s cautious pace in developing on-device generative models and its decision to outsource key underlying technologies to external partners. Investor concern has risen as Apple’s R&D spend swelled by 12% year-over-year to $33 billion in fiscal 2025, yet progress on flagship AI features in Siri and the core operating system has lagged peer integrations, potentially delaying new software-driven service revenue streams valued at an estimated $5 billion by 2027.