iPhone 15 production starts In India as Apple looks to diversify from China

IN an effort to narrow the gap between Apple Inc.'s operations in India and its manufacturing base in China, the US multinational's next-generation iPhone15 is beginning production in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Bloomberg reported.

A Foxconn Technology Group factory in Sriperumbudur in the state is gearing up to deliver the latest devices only weeks after they begin shipping from factories in China, as the company looks to increase the volume of new iPhones originating from India, the news outlet said citing informed sources.

Apple Inc., which is headquartered in Cupertino, California, is trying to diversify its manufacturing from China in a bid to de-risk the supply chain for its key products as relations between the US and China deteriorate, raising a question mark over the future of their trade.

India, on the other hand, has sought to build closer ties to the US under prime minister Narendra Modi and make itself a manufacturing hub.

Before iPhone 14, Apple did not have much assembly operations for iPhone in India and the south Asian state lagged China output by six to nine months. But the delay saw a drastic reduction last year and Apple made seven per cent of its iPhones in India at the end of March.

This year, the goal is to get near to the parity on shipment timing from both India and China even though suppliers are not certain yet they will achieve it, the sources said seeking anonymity since the information has not yet been made public.

The scale of production for the iPhone in India will depend on the ready availability of components that are largely imported, and the smooth rise of production lines at the Foxconn factory located outside Chennai

Other Apple suppliers in India such as Pegatron Corp. and a Wistron Corp. factory that is being acquired by the Tata Group are also set to assemble the iPhone 15, the sources said, according to Bloomberg.