Apple has produced more iPhone 15s in India than any previous model, and plans to continue. The company will move a quarter of its iPhone production – more than 50 million phones – to this country over the next two to three years. However, China will still remain the largest supplier of iPhones by a wide margin.
Foxconn and other Apple suppliers believe that the push into India is going well, so they are preparing the ground for future expansion, reports Engadget. At first, the company’s pace was slow because of infrastructure problems and powerful unions that helped impose more restrictive labor rules — such as abandoning the 12-hour workday.
In early 2023, India’s commerce minister said Apple plans to make 25 percent of its phones in the country, but no timeframe was set for that. Two or three years meant a fairly significant increase in production.
Apple’s contractor, Foxconn, is producing the iPhone 15 at a good pace at its plant in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This is part of Apple’s plan to diversify production in the face of supply chain risks due to tensions between the US and China. Foxconn is currently building a plant in the southern state of Karnataka, which is expected to open in April 2024, with another mega-plant in the pipeline.
iPhone maker Foxconn is investing $600 million in smartphone and chip manufacturing infrastructure in India
While Apple produced only a small percentage of its iPhones in India, and the production of new models started nine months later than the Chinese one. The situation changed with the release of the iPhone 14, the creation of which began in the same month as in China, and the iPhone 15, assembled in India, was available in stores already at the start of sales.
Relations between the US and China are “sensitive” as the US has recently taken steps to block access to advanced technology in the country. However, Apple continues to emphasize the country’s importance, with CEO Tim Cook visiting it twice in 2023. Apple also sells a large number of phones in China, accounting for about 19% of total revenue, while emphasizing that all phones sold in China through authorized channels are also made in China and used by local suppliers.
