Indian Manufacturing Boost: Apple Likely To Produce iPhone15, iPhone15 Plus In India

Within a month of the launch of Apple’s first official store in India, speculations are that the tech giant may manufacture iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models in India, and will be assembled by the Tata Group.

According to TrendForce’s report, in the initial phase, only small orders will be received by the Tata Group for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, which may be scaled later. The report further added that these models of iPhone may hit the market this September. 

The news comes after Tata’s purchase of Wistron’s iPhone plant in Bengaluru. 

The report states that the 2023 iPhone series may consist of four models – iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple’s A16 Bionic chipset will power the handsets and will run on the latest iOS software.

Apple has been highly active in India recently. It did not just confine to CEO Tim Cook saying, “I’m very bullish on India.” Last month, the big tech launched two official Apple stores in India. 

As per reports, iPhone production by contract manufacturers in India tripled to $7 Bn in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). The tech giant now produces almost 7% of its iPhones in India as against a mere 1% in 2021, Bloomberg reported.

According to the Indian government, the Apple ecosystem has generated more than 1 Lakh jobs in the country over the last 24 months. The ecosystem comprises Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron, Tatas, Salcomp, Avery, and Jabil. Foxconn factory has about 30,000 women out of 35,000 employees, accounting for 85% of its total workforce.

In addition, Foxconn has announced that it will invest over $200 Mn in Telangana to set up a facility to manufacture AirPods. Another investment of up to $1 Bn to set up a manufacturing facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru was also announced by the company.

Meanwhile, Apple’s another contract manufacturer, Salcomp, has plans to double its headcount in India to 25,000 by 2026 to increase its share of Apple’s product manufacturing in the country.

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