Apple to start production of iPhone 14 in India at Foxconn facility in Tamil Nadu – Technology News, Firstpost

Mehul Ruben Das26 Sep 2022 11:05:05 IST

Apple has confirmed that they have already started manufacturing the iPhone 14 at Foxconn’s Sriperumbudur plant in Tamil Nadu. In this way, Apple has officially started moving the production of its flagship and premium devices outside of China.

Apple began producing the iPhone SE in 2017 to free up production lines at its Chinese factories so they could be used to produce new iPhones.

According to sources, the made-in-India iPhone 14 will start reaching local buyers in the next few days. The phones made in India will be for the Indian market as well as for export, although there are very little chance of device price reduction for Indian customers.

Indian business conglomerates are also looking to get in on the action. In a few days, Apple’s Wistron factories will also start manufacturing the iPhone 14 in India. The Tata Group is also looking to partner with Wistron to create new capacity for the production of the iPhone 14 and other Apple products.

In a statement to PTI, an Apple spokesperson said:

We are happy to manufacture iPhone 14 in India. The new iPhone 14 lineup introduces innovative new technologies and important security features.”

The iPhone 14 was launched earlier this month on September 7, 2022, and is available to customers in India from September 16, 2022, simultaneously with the US, among other markets.

A recent JP Morgan report on “Apple’s supply chain relocation” predicted that Apple “is likely to move around 5 percent of iPhone 14 production to India from late 2022. and increase it to 25 percent by 2025.”

It is also predicted that nearly 25 percent of all Apple products will be made outside of China by 2025, up from 5 percent now.

Southeast and South Asian countries such as India, Vietnam, and Thailand have become preferred locations for geopolitical diversification away from China for Apple’s food chain suppliers, given their lower labor costs, sufficient skilled labor support, and attractive policies and government support.

The Indian government’s policy to boost India’s electronics sector is also a big reason why Apple and a number of other tech companies, including Google, want to set up shop in the country.

After experiencing success in smartphone manufacturing locally, India is rapidly trying to replicate the success with other parts of the electronics ecosystem, making serious efforts to reduce its reliance on imports.

The government has introduced attractive incentives to encourage local manufacturing and exports of telecom and networking equipment and IT products, and a Rs 76,000 crore semiconductor scheme was announced late last year to boost local chip and display manufacturing.

To attract global giants such as Intel and TSMC, the Indian government has increased financial support for new facilities in technology hubs to cover 50 percent of the project cost in an attempt to attract more international technology companies to invest and set up their factories in India.