In a fillip to India’s thrust on local manufacturing, Apple earlier this year kicked off the production of new iPhone 14 in India, a first for the tech giant as it narrows down the manufacturing period of new iPhones in the country to cut dependence on China…reports Asian Lite News
Apple is fast forwarding its manufacturing plans in India and Vietnam in the wake of China unrest over zero-Covid policy which has severely disrupted its supply chain, leading to an acute shortage of new iPhone 14 Pro models.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the company is “telling suppliers to plan more actively for assembling Apple products elsewhere in Asia, particularly India and Vietnam” in order to “reduce dependence on Taiwanese assemblers led by Foxconn”.
The China upheaval, which hit its key supplier Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory last month resulting in violent protests, means “Apple no longer feels comfortable having so much of its business tied up in one place,” the report said, citing analysts and people in the Apple supply chain.
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Apple aims to ship 40-45 per cent of iPhones from India compared with a single-digit percentage currently, according to famed analyst Ming-chi Kuo.
Kuo has predicted that iPhone shipments in the fourth quarter this year are likely to reach around 70 million to 75 million units, nearly 10 million less than market projections before the China turmoil.
The top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models have particularly been hit hard, according to him.
Every fourth iPhone will be made in India by 2025, according to J.P. Morgan.
In a fillip to India’s thrust on local manufacturing, Apple earlier this year kicked off the production of new iPhone 14 in India, a first for the tech giant as it narrows down the manufacturing period of new iPhones in the country to cut dependence on China.
Buoyed by the ease-of-doing business and friendly local manufacturing policies, Apple’s ‘Make in India’ iPhones will potentially account for close to 85 per cent of its total iPhone production for the country this year, according to industry experts.
The import of iPhones to India is likely to come down to 15 per cent this year (from 50 per cent in 2019), while domestic manufacturing by the Cupertino-based tech giant is set to go up substantially to 85 per cent, according to market intelligence firm CyberMedia Research (CMR).
With the iPhone 14 series, Apple’s iPhone production in India is slated to jump from 7 million iPhones in 2021 to touch a new milestone of around 12-13 million iPhones in 2022.
As per CMR, the contribution of domestic iPhone manufacturing in India jumped from 50 per cent in 2019 to 73 per cent in 2021.
In the meantime, the percentage of imported iPhones to India decreased from 50 per cent in 2019 to 45 per cent in 2020, 27 per cent in 2021 and around 15 per cent this year — showing a significant make in India’s boom for Apple.
Apple first started manufacturing iPhones in India in 2017, with iPhone SE.
The tech giant manufactures some of its most advanced iPhones in the country, including iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 at the Foxconn facility while iPhone SE and iPhone 12 are being assembled at the Wistron factory in the country.
Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook has ignored questions on violent protests in China which have hampered iPhone production at its key suppliers’ factories in the country.
Fox Business asked Cook several questions as he arrived on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to meet lawmakers late on Thursday.
Cook refused to comment on whether he supported the Chinese people’s right to protest and his thoughts on the factory workers beaten by authorities.
The Apple CEO also remained silent on whether he stood by his company’s business dealings with the Chinese Communist Party.
Cook was in Washington to meet with Republican leaders this week, as the House Judiciary Committee will look into antitrust issues related to the App Store.
The AirDrop feature allows users to share content between Apple devices. The tool was used widely during Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests.
Earlier this month, an update to Apple iOS included an additional AirDrop feature applying only to iPhones sold in mainland China.
Under the update, iPhones can now only set their AirDrop to receive messages from “everyone” for 10 minutes before switching off.
The other settings allow for file-sharing between “contacts only” or “receiving off.”
Amid Covid-related protests in China, Apple is facing growing iPhone shortages.
According to reports, the company has seen $165 billion in market value erosion since last week on concerns of weak holiday sales.
Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro models’ shipments may reportedly drop by 20 million in the fourth quarter (Q4).
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