According to a Bloomberg News story, Tuesday, Apple Inc. is planning to start producing the iPhone 14 in India approximately two months after the company’s initial availability in China.
Apple has been engaging with suppliers to boost production in India thus reducing the manufacture delay in new iPhones from the usual six to nine months.
According to earlier reports from ET, Apple was considering exporting its forthcoming iPhone 14 from India to reduce the impact of geopolitical concerns on supply efficiency by establishing production centers outside China.
Even though India’s iPhone sales still lag well behind China’s, Apple has reached a significant milestone to establish a non-Chinese iPhone development site in the country.
The iPhone factory in India has been steadily expanding as the US firm has increased manufacturing. The company currently employs three contract manufacturers in India to produce its products: Foxconn (Hon Hai), Wistron, & Pegatron.
The Indian government has a production-linked incentive plan for mobile manufacturing, and the three Apple partners involved are a part of it. To get the bonuses, they must produce goods worth at least Rs 8,000 crore this year.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has been engaging with suppliers to increase production in India and reduce the delay in the manufacture of the new iPhone from the customary six to nine months for prior launches.
Apple was working with the suppliers to ramp up manufacturing in India & cut off the lag in production of the recent iPhone from approx six – nine months for prior launches, people familiar with the fact told Bloomberg.
Foxconn Technologies reportedly researched how to best ship materials from China to its plant near Chennai, Tamil Nadu, where the iPhone 14 will be assembled.
People familiar with the matter said Apple & Foxconn eventually decided a simultaneous launch in China and India isn’t feasible this year, but that it remained a long-term aim.
After the first launch in September, they expect its first iPhone 14s to be launched in India in late October or November.
