According to relevant documents and people familiar with the matter, a ransomware gang stole a large amount of data from Apple's Indian foundry Tata Electronics and uploaded confidential parts lists, supplier lists, and photos of Apple's unreleased iPhone 18 Pro series models to the dark web. This data leakage may severely damage Apple's global iPhone supply chain system, which has been built through careful negotiation between multiple parties. Apple's mobile phone components come from multiple suppliers around the world.
Since the vast majority of cooperative supplier information is Apple’s highly confidential trade secrets, this leakage may not only damage the partnership between Apple and Tata, but also allow competitors, counterfeit manufacturers, and Apple’s cooperative suppliers to obtain the OEM ownership information of each component.
Tata is both an Apple parts supplier and an iPhone contract assembler, and has grown into one of Apple's most important production partners outside of China. The expansion of Apple's production capacity to India is also the core focus of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strategy to promote India to become a global electronics manufacturing power.
According to reports, Apple plans to officially release iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models in September this year. The timing of this data leak is very difficult for Apple: affected by the skyrocketing prices of memory and storage chips last week, Apple has just raised the prices of its iPad and MacBook series products. Analysts predict that Apple may simultaneously increase the prices of its iPhones in the coming months.
Reuters has previously reported that the ransomware organization "Global Leak" leaked more than 200,000 documents from Tata Electronics on the dark web, including design drawings of many old iPhone parts and some Tesla accessories information. Related business documents of TSMC and Qualcomm, two Apple core chip suppliers, were also leaked. Both companies provide core hardware for the iPhone.
Reuters reviewed the latest leaked documents and found that at least six documents detail the exclusive suppliers of various components of the iPhone 18 Pro, covering details of core accessories such as motherboard chips, battery components, and camera modules.
People familiar with the matter said that Apple classifies this kind of information as a highly confidential business secret and is deeply concerned about the widespread dissemination of supply chain information for unreleased models on the dark web. Apple has never disclosed the specific foundry ownership of components in its public supplier list, and this leaked document fully exposed this information.
In total, these documents record the supply information of hundreds of components for the new generation iPhone 18 Pro. They also reveal that Apple uses alternative supply models from multiple manufacturers for some components, and some components are only supplied exclusively by a few companies. This not only exposes Apple’s strong supply chain bargaining power, but also allows the outside world to see potential shortcomings in its supply chain.
Official spokespersons for Apple and Tata did not respond to Reuters' inquiries.
The "Global Leak" organization has previously claimed responsibility for the Nike data breach. Reuters has not yet verified the authenticity of the leaked data, and has not been able to contact the ransomware organization for comment.
Technology information website AppleInsider first disclosed last week that confidential documents related to iPhone 18 Pro were leaked in the Tata data leak.
Reuters previously reported that Apple has launched an investigation into the leak and is negotiating with Tata to develop a long-term security plan. On the one hand, Tata has tightened access rights to internal confidential systems and carried out internal security investigations. On the other hand, Tata hired an international professional consulting agency to conduct legal-level data security audits.
Drop test actual photos
According to people familiar with the matter, multiple leaked documents bear Apple’s official “confidential” watermark and are marked with Apple’s internal R&D codename corresponding to the iPhone 18 Pro series.
In the folder related to the iPhone 18 Pro, there are actual photos of the drop test of the mobile phone in the Tata factory in early 2026: the photo is a classic straight-shaped gray body mobile phone with a rear three-camera module and the Apple brand logo printed on the body.
Reuters is currently unable to accurately confirm the specific model of the device, but people familiar with the matter confirmed that the model in the photo is the iPhone 18 Pro.
This data security incident severely damaged the trust foundation on which Apple and Tata cooperate. Apple continues to diversify its supply chain and reduce its dependence on production capacity in China. The core basis of its Indian market layout is Tata's new large-scale assembly foundry.
Data from market research firm Counterpoint shows that this capacity layout strategy has begun to bear fruit: India’s iPhone production capacity is expected to account for 26% of total global production in 2026, compared with only 6% four years ago.