JP Morgan representatives circulated a report that Apple intends to make the two countries its key manufacturing hubs, reducing reliance on China.
Analysts predict that Apple will move 5% of global iPhone 14 production to India by the end of 2022 and expand its manufacturing capacity in the country to produce 25% of all iPhones by 2025.
On the other hand, Vietnam will account for 20% of all iPad and Apple Watch production, 5% of MacBooks, and 65% of AirPods by 2025, according to a closely scrutinized report by TechCrunch.
Apple’s rival Samsung sees India as a major manufacturing hub and has opened one of its largest factories in the country.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which currently leads the market, as well as rivals Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus, also assemble a number of their phones in India.
Experts are confident that the presence of foreign giants, combined with “sufficient labor resources and competitive labor costs”, make India a desirable location for deployment.
It was recently reported that Google is also planning to move some of the Pixel smartphone production to India (in particular, it will launch the Pixel 7 there).
While Apple still has a small market share in India, the iPhone maker has been expanding its investment in the country over the past five years.
The company opened an online Apple store in India two years ago and has shared publicly that it is working on launching the first offline store in the country.
Foxconn currently only has around 20,000 iPhone assembly operators in India (compared to 350,000 in China).
“The Indian iPhone supply chain has historically only dealt with legacy models. Interestingly, Apple required production of the iPhone 14/14 Plus models to begin in India just two to three months after production began in mainland China. Such a short interval implies the growing importance of manufacturing in India and likely more funding for iPhone assembly in India in the future,” the report says.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
I am Bret Jackson, a professional journalist and author for Gadget Onus, where I specialize in writing about the gaming industry. With over 6 years of experience in my field, I have built up an extensive portfolio that ranges from reviews to interviews with top figures within the industry. My work has been featured on various news sites, providing readers with insightful analysis regarding the current state of gaming culture.
