Apple already building latest iPhone 14 in India
Apple has started producing its iPhone 14 in India just three weeks after the release of the smartphone line-up, a significant win for the south Asian country as it attempts to grab a bigger piece of the global electronics supply chain.
Apple said on September 26 that it was “excited to be manufacturing [the] iPhone 14 in India”. It is the first time that Apple has started producing its newest phones outside China so soon after their launch.
For now, only the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 model is being built in India, two people told Nikkei Asia, saying that additional models, including the iPhone 14 Plus, could follow in a matter of months.
Traditionally, Apple kept the manufacture of new iPhones entirely in China until it was confident that production of the devices was running smoothly. Only then would it begin producing the latest models in other countries, like India.
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Apple started assembling its budget iPhone SE in India in 2017 through Wistron, a small iPhone assembler. Two major assemblers, Foxconn and Pegatron, later expanded production in India and helped Apple assemble some parts of its iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models in the south Asian country. In April, Apple confirmed it had started to build its iPhone 13 in India — more than half a year after it introduced the product.
Most iPhones are still built in China: in the cities of Zhengzhou and Shenzhen by Foxconn, in Shanghai by Pegatron, and in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, by Luxshare Precision Industry. Foxconn is still the biggest supplier, securing orders to build three different models of the latest range, including the iPhone 14, and is the primary source for the premium iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max models, sources briefed on the matter told Nikkei Asia. Pegatron and Luxshare mainly assemble the standard iPhone 14 and 14 Plus models, they said.
Apple has started to diversify production out of China, its main production base, in recent years. It asked suppliers as early as 2018 to evaluate producing some AirPods outside the country, with test production of the earphones beginning in Vietnam the following year. Apple also plans to build iPads and its Apple Watch in Vietnam as it attempts to lower its dependence on the world’s second-largest economy.
“We see Foxconn and Pegatron are all expanding production in India,” said Jeff Pu, an analyst with Haitong International Securities. “Given the rising labour costs in China and the ongoing trend of diversifying regional manufacturing, we do see a growing portion of iPhones being built in India in years to come.”
Additional reporting by Lauly Li
A version of this article was first published by Nikkei Asia on September 26 2022. ©2022 Nikkei Inc. All rights reserved