How Apple iPhone 14 may set new ‘made in India’ record

According to one of the most popular Apple analysts Ming-Chi Kuo, the tech giant is likely planning to ship the upcoming iPhone 14 simultaneously from factories in China and India. In a thread on the microblogging website Twitter, Kuo said: “My latest research indicates that Foxconn’s iPhone manufacturing site in India will ship the new 6.1″ iPhone 14 almost simultaneously with China for the first time in 2H22 (India is a quarter or more behind). in the past).”
“In the near term, India’s iPhone capabilities/supplies still have a significant gap with China, but it’s an important milestone for Apple in building a non-Chinese iPhone manufacturing site,” Kuo added in the post. . “It means Apple is trying to reduce the geopolitical impact on supply and see the Indian market as the next major growth engine,” Kuo wrote in the third and final tweet of this thread.

If this does indeed happen, it will be the first time a brand new Apple iPhone comes with ‘made in india‘ tag at launch. Although Apple has been manufacturing iPhones in India for many years, the country has never shipped the latest iPhones at the time of launch. Apple started manufacturing iPhones in India in the year 2018 with the first generation iPhone SE. Several iPhones have been added to this list since then, including iPhone X, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and iPhone SE 2. Wistron was the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to make iPhones in India at its factory in Karnataka. The OEM also reportedly made iPhone 6s models in India for other Asian markets in the year 2018-19.

Apple is part of the Indian government’s PLI scheme
In 2020, the Indian government approved incentives under its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to boost domestic smartphone production to 16 companies across the country. The list includes Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron. Under the PLI plan, these companies have to make certain investments in India to get the incentives. In the past two years, Apple has experienced significant growth in the Indian market. A recent report claimed that the tech giant sold more than 1.2 million iPhones in India in the second quarter of this year, growing by a massive 94% (year-over-year).
Apple iPhone 13 is the latest iPhone with a ‘made-in-India’ tag. In March of this year, Apple confirmed that after trial production at its partner Foxconn’s Chennai plant, the smartphone will now be manufactured in India.