Apple To Start Manufacturing AirPods At Hyderabad Foxconn Unit By December 2024

iPhone maker Apple will reportedly commence the production of AirPods at the Hyderabad facility of Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn by the end of next year.

The Hyderabad plant is projected to initiate large-scale manufacturing by December 2024 with an approved investment of $400 Mn by Foxconn, news agency PTI reported.

The development comes days after Foxconn finalised an additional $400 Mn investment for Telangana.

“…FIT Singapore’s proposal to make a capital injection of US$ 400 Mn to Chang Yi Interconnect Technology (India) Private Limited, which is held by FIT Singapore as to 99.99 per cent of the capital stock,” noted parent FIT Hon Teng’s regulatory filings with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday (August 11).

AirPods are one of the bestselling true wireless stereo (TWS) earphones across the world. Per a recent report, Apple held more than a third of the global TWS market share during the last quarter of 2022.

Samsung held a market share of 7.5%, while Xiaomi claimed 4.4%, D2C unicorn boAt held 4% and Oppo had 3%. Incidentally, Xiaomi has also begun manufacturing its TWS devices in India at the Optiemus Electronics facility in Noida.

AirPods are among the several Apple products being manufactured in India. The Cupertino-based tech giant has been ramping up iPhone manufacturing in India, assembling the latest models at various facilities of its contract manufacturers. 

As of now, the tech giant is also looking to manufacture iPads in the country and potentially Macbooks in the future.

Apple’s iPhone export from India crossed the INR 10,000 Cr mark in May this year. The total value of the iPhone exports from India between April and May stood at INR 20,000 Cr, more than double the value during the same period last year.

The tech giant also reported record revenue in India in Q3 2023, with the company’s newly-opened retail stores in the country ‘exceeding expectations’. During a post-earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that while the company’s retail stores in India were not very old, they beat expectations. He also noted that the company was looking to invest more in India going ahead.