Apple: AirPods and Beats headphones will be manufactured in India after the iPhones

AirPods and Beats headphones will be manufactured in India after the iPhones

On Wednesday, the Nikkei reported that Apple Inc. wants to move some of its manufacturing to India, including AirPods and Beats headphones.

Due to Apple’s increased production of iPhones in India, the changes occur. In the five months since April, Apple Inc.’s iPhone exports from India have exceeded $1 billion, showing that the South Asian country is doing well toward its goal of dominating the electronics manufacturing industry.

 

A source estimated that iPhone export shipments, mostly to Europe and the Middle East, will exceed $2.5 billion in the 12 months leading up to March 2023 at the current pace. India shipped $1.3 billion worth of iPhones in the year ending March 2022, almost twice as many as it shipped in 2017.

According to Raj Joshi, senior vice president, of the corporate finance group at global brokerage company Moody’s, shifting a portion of the production of AirPods and Beats headphones to India demonstrates Apple’s confidence in the country’s manufacturing capabilities.

The decision by Apple to produce the iPhone 14 in India will diversify the company’s production base, which is now heavily centred in China, according to Joshi.

As a move away from China, Apple begins producing the iPhone 14 in India.

Apple announced on Monday that it has begun building the iPhone 14 models in India, signalling a shift in how the company will manufacture in the future. Analysts predict that Apple’s manufacturing will be shifted increasingly to India in the future. There has never been a local production of the current lineup in the world’s second-largest smartphone market within the same calendar year.

Foxconn, the company’s international partner, manufactures the smartphone in the Sriperumbudur factory in Chennai. The locally-made iPhones will be available in the country later this year. In a statement, an Apple spokeswoman said the company is delighted to produce the iPhone 14 in India. Up until last year, Apple utilized India’s manufacturing facilities to construct older model iPhones. In 2017, however, the iPhone firm started domestically making devices there. Earlier this month, Apple unveiled the iPhone 14 variants.

As it gradually reduces its reliance on China, where it has been manufacturing the vast majority of its gadgets for more than a decade, analysts predict that Apple will transform India into a worldwide powerhouse for iPhone manufacture by 2025. By 2025, Apple is projected to produce 25% of all iPhones in India, according to a forecast by analysts at JP Morgan earlier this month. As New Delhi works to transform the nation into a manufacturing powerhouse, it has provided generous subsidies to Apple’s manufacturing partners Foxconn and Wistron. It has “ample labour resources and competitive labour rates” and is near international industrial behemoths, say analysts at JP Morgan.

“The Indian iPhone supply chain has traditionally only provided older models. It’s interesting to note that Apple has asked EMS suppliers to produce iPhone 14/14 Plus models in India in 4Q22, just two to three months after Mainland China begins manufacturing. The considerably shorter period suggests that India’s production is becoming more significant and that future iPhone allocations to India’s manufacture will probably increase, according to the research. 

We think Apple currently solely manufactures the iPhone 14/14 Plus models in India because of the more difficult camera module alignment required by the iPhone Pro series (performed by EMS suppliers) and the greater local demand for the iPhone 14 series (tax savings). About 1 million units each month, or 5% of the overall volume of iPhones, is what we anticipate the volume to be at first (4Q22).

Many people would expect that Apple will reduce the cost of its mobile devices in India as it increases its capacity for local production there. It costs 79,900 Indian rupees ($980) for the entry-level iPhone 14 model, which sells for $799 in the United States. As opposed to its $1,099 suggested retail price in the United States, the entry-level iPhone Pro Max model costs $1,717 in India.

The iPhone manufacturer has increased its investment in the Indian market over the last five years, despite having a small portion of the market. Having launched the first physical Apple Store in the country two years ago, it has since announced it is putting the final touches on the opening of the first online Apple Store in the nation.

One of Samsung’s largest factories has already been established in India, which is viewed as a critical manufacturing base for the company. There are some local production processes used by Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus, which are all market leaders in smartphones.

According to a recent story by The Information, Google also intends to relocate part of the manufacture of its Pixel devices to India. The business said last week that it would introduce the next Pixel 7 devices in India after forgoing delivering flagship models there for two generations.

edited and proofread by nikita sharma