Apple starts manufacturing the iPhone 14 in India at Foxconn’s Tamil Nadu facility

Apple has confirmed that they have already started making the iPhone 14 at Foxconn’s Sriperumbudur factory in Tamil Nadu. With this, Apple has officially started moving the production of its flagship and premium devices outside China.

Apple started making the iPhone SE in 2017, to free up production lines in their Chinese factories so that they could be used to manufacture newer iPhones.

According to sources, the Made-in-India iPhone 14 will begin to reach local customers in the next few days. Phones manufactured in India will be both for the Indian market and for exports, although there is a very little chance of the price of the devices coming down for Indian customers.

Indian business conglomerates are also looking to get in on the action. In a few days, Apple’s Wistron facilities will also start making the iPhone 14 in India. The Tata Group is also looking to partner up with Wistron to set up new facilities for the production of the iPhone 14 and other Apple products.

In a statement to PTI a spokesperson from Apple said:

We’re excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India. The new iPhone 14 lineup introduces groundbreaking new technologies and important safety capabilities.”

The iPhone 14 was launched earlier this month, on September 7, 2022, and is available to customers in India simultaneously with the US, among other markets, since September 16, 2022.

A recent report by JP Morgan on ‘Apple Supply Chain relocation’ predicted that Apple “is likely to move about 5 per cent of iPhone 14 production to India from late 2022 and increase it to 25 per cent by 2025.”

It is also forecast that nearly 25 per cent of all Apple products will be manufactured outside China by 2025, as compared to five per cent at present.

Southeast and South Asian countries like India, Vietnam, and Thailand have become preferable locations for geopolitical diversification away from China for Apple food chain vendors, given their lower labour costs, sufficient skilled manpower support and appealing policies and government support.

The government of India’s policies to stimulate the electronics sector in India is also a massive reason why Apple and a number of other tech companies, including Google, are looking to set up shop in the country.

After tasting success in local smartphone manufacturing, India is moving swiftly to replicate the success with other parts of the electronics ecosystem, as it makes solid efforts to cut reliance on imports.

The government has unveiled attractive incentives to spur local production and export of telecom and networking equipment as well as IT products, and a Rs 76,000 crore semiconductor scheme was announced late last year to boost local manufacturing of chips and display panels.

To attract global giants such as Intel and TSMC, the government of India increased the fiscal support for new facilities across technology nodes to cover 50 per cent of project cost, in an attempt to get more international tech companies to invest and set up their factories in India.