Apple begins production of iPhone 14 in India, reducing the tech gap with China

Tech Crunch reports that Apple has officially commenced production iPhone 14 in India, only a few months after the new series launched out of China in September.

Apple has been diversifying its supply chain outside of China and India has been a viable site. Previously, it was reported that the “made-in-India” iPhone 14 would ship almost simultaneously with China at launch in September to avoid any delay.

Later it was revised that the production would begin within two months of launch because the company’s supply chain was still very China-centered and it could not achieve its secrecy standards in India. However, it did highlight that the Cupertino tech giant was narrowing the tech gap between India and China.

Apple’s assembling partner, Foxconn starts manufacturing iPhone 14 at its facility in Chennai

According to the report, Apple’s long-term assembling partner Foxconn has begun production of iPhone 14 base models at its facility in Sriperumbudur, Chennai. The company’s spokesperson told the publisher that “We’re excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India.”

The tech giant start its operations in India in 2017 with the production of legacy or older generation iPhones for the local market. In 2020, the company started manufacturing more latest models in the country like the iPhone SE (second-generation), then the iPhone 12 in 2021, the iPhone 13 in early 2022, and now the iPhone 14 in Q4 of 2022.

Analysts at JP Morgan believe that the company will not manufacture iPhone 14 Pro models in India because of its complex camera system and will produce a small volume of iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, around 1 million units per month.

“We believe Apple only produces iPhone 14/14 Plus models in India now due to the more complex camera module alignment of the iPhone Pro series (done by EMS vendors) and higher local market demand for the iPhone 14 series (tax savings). We expect the volume to start small in 4Q22 (~1M units per month, or 5% of total iPhone volume).”

Having said that, it is also speculated that by 2025, the tech giant would turn India into its new manufacturing hub to reduce dependence on China, gradually.

Analysts estimate that Apple will turn India into a global iPhone manufacturing hub by 2025 as it slowly cuts its reliance on China, where it has been producing the vast majority of its devices for over a decade. In a report earlier this month, JP Morgan analysts said Apple will move 5% of global iPhone 14 production to India by late 2022 and expand its manufacturing capacity in the country to produce 25% of all iPhones by 2025.