Apple’s plan for move iPhone production out of China is going to take a key step hand in hand with Foxconn. The Taiwanese firm, Apple’s main smartphone ally, plans to invest $700 million to build a new plant in India. Thus, Cupertino will accelerate the diversification of its product line, especially due to the growing political tensions between the United States and the Chinese regime.
bloomberg indicates that Foxconn’s new facility will be located on a site of just over 120 hectares near Bangalore. Once the plant is up and running it will be used both for the production of iPhone components and for the final assembly of the mobile phone..
On paper, the plan looks more than ambitious. The quoted media indicates that the new Foxconn plant in India It will employ about 100,000 people.. This is an important fact, given that it is equivalent to half of the employees who currently work in iPhone City from Zhengzhou, China. However, it is still unknown how long it will take to build and launch.
While details are scarce, some senior Indian government officials have already expressed optimism about the decision. “Very soon, Apple mobile phones will be made in the state. In addition to creating around 100,000 jobs, this will open up many opportunities for Karnataka. Under the visionary leadership of the Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we will do our part to achieve a $5 trillion economy in India by 2025,” he tweeted. Basavaraj Bommaichief minister of the state of Karnataka.
Despite the approval of the authorities, this does not mean that overnight Apple will turn off the lights in China and move all iPhone production from that country. The picture is much more complex..
Apple is faced with the problem of transferring iPhone production from China
Concentrating production of the iPhone and other products in China was a strategy that allowed Apple to become what it is today: the most valuable company in the world. Actually it was Tim Cook who led the plan to set up a production line according to the company’s requirements.
However, in recent years, the need to diversify the origin of their devices has become urgent. Something that was reinforced by COVID-19 and sanitary blockades, but that Cupertino was considering even before the start of the pandemic.
It’s estimated that 90% of Apple’s products come from China, but that percentage rises when it’s just the iPhone. The fact is that 98% of Apple smartphones are produced in this country.. And while it’s true that some models were made in India and Brazil for a while, the numbers are laughable in both cases.
In 2021, for example, about 250 million iPhones were produced in China in all of its current models. This work was done by Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron Corporation. That same year, only three million were produced in India, with another two million leaving Brazil. It is true that since then Apple has made the decision to assemble the iPhone 13 and 14 in Indian lands, but the difference is still overwhelming in favor of China.
Thus, it is considered that moving only 10% of iPhone production from China will take about 8 years.. So it’s still too early to say what impact Foxconn’s new plans for India will have, if they materialize.
If the Taiwanese firm builds a new factory in Bangalore, it will be interesting to see what happens to its competitors who also work for Apple. Recently, Californians have been urging their partners to move their production to countries such as India and Vietnam. This is not an easy mission, considering not only the costs, but political tensions between Indians and Chinese over a border dispute.
Source: Hiper Textual
I’m Ben Stock, a highly experienced and passionate journalist with a career in the news industry spanning more than 10 years. I specialize in writing content for websites, including researching and interviewing sources to produce engaging articles. My current role is as an author at Gadget Onus, where I mainly cover the mobile section.
