In a major shift in its production strategy, Apple will manufacture iPhone 14 – its latest model launched worldwide on September 16 – in India.
These phones, to be manufactured at Foxconn’s facility located in Chennai’s Sriperumbudur, will be sold in India and will also be exported. Customers in India are expected to start receiving the locally manufactured devices in the next few days.
In a statement, Apple said: “We’re excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India. The new iPhone 14 line-up introduces ground-breaking new technologies and important safety capabilities.”
Apple has been manufacturing iPhones in India with Foxconn since 2017, but these were usually older models. With iPhone 14, it is the first time that Apple is producing its latest model in the country.
A JP Morgan report recently said that Apple “is likely to move about 5 percent of iPhone 14 production to India from late 2022 and reach 25 percent by 2025”. The report attributed trade tensions between the US and China and the Covid-19 crisis to Apple focusing on manufacturing hubs other than China.
China remains the biggest manufacturing hub for Apple, but it has felt the heat from Beijing’s persistence in strict lockdowns to control Covid resurgences. The zero-Covid policy has disrupted production at factories across China.
India, on the other hand, has been providing significant incentives to boost local manufacturing, especially in the electronics sector.
Apple has also been looking to increase sales in India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market where it has just a 3.8 percent market share, and lags behind lower-cost competitors from China.
Follow us on
