As China grapples with frequent Covid outbreaks and citizen protests with a sharp disruption to its manufacturing prowess, Apple is accelerating plans to shift more and more of its iPhone production to India.
According to an Economic Times report citing industry executives and market analysts, Apple’s contract manufacturers in India will significantly increase production. Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron plan to increase production driven by the government’s Rs 41,000 crore PLI scheme, and experts believe that the percentage of locally manufactured iPhones will increase to 20% of total global shipments in the next three to four years, from the current level of 5%.
Executives and analysts ET spoke to said the priority right now is to shift production of Pro models in India. Currently, China contributes 85% of the total production of the Pro model, which Apple sees as a need to diversify. The world’s largest iPhone plant in Zhengzhou, China, has been rocked by protests over low wages and covid restrictions, forcing production to halt. Apple has publicly admitted that this will lead to long wait times for the Pro models during the crucial Christmas season in the West.
For now, Apple makes the iPhone SE, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and iPhone 14 base models in India. The Pro models sold here are all imported. That may soon change, however, as Apple begins to look more and more towards India as its next big manufacturing hub.
Noted Apple whistleblower Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted last month that Foxconn-made iPhones in India will grow at least 150% year-on-year by 2023, with the medium-long-term goal being to ship 40-45%. of iPhones from India, as compared to the current 2-4%.
However, the people ET spoke to said this estimate is not practical. A more realistic estimate would be for 20% of global iPhone shipments to be produced in India by 2025.
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