Analysts: Apple may move a quarter of iPhone production to India

CUPERTINO, Sep 21 – PRIME. JPMorgan analysts said on Wednesday that Apple Inc could produce one in four iPhones in India by 2025. The tech giant is shifting production out of China amid mounting geopolitical uncertainty and tough COVID-19-related lockdowns in the country.

According to the broker, from the end of 2022, Apple will transfer to India, which is the second largest smartphone market after China, approximately 5% of the production of the iPhone 14.

In addition, JPMorgan estimates that about 25% of all Apple products, including Macs, iPads, Apple Watches and AirPods, will be produced outside of China by 2025, while this figure is currently 5%.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, is betting big on India. In 2017, it launched iPhone assembly in the country, first with Wistron and later with Foxconn, to comply with Indian authorities’ requirement for local assembly.

While the pandemic has disrupted plans for businesses to reposition supply chains, as restrictions are eased, more companies, including Apple, have accelerated those efforts this year.

“Taiwanese vendors such as Hon Hai and Pegatron are playing a key role in relocating production to India. In the medium to long term, we also expect Apple to identify local Indian manufacturing suppliers,” said JPMorgan analysts led by Gokul Hariharan, which deserved a rating of 4 out of the maximum 5 in terms of the accuracy of its forecasts.

Earlier in September, Bloomberg reported that Indian conglomerate Tata Group was in talks with Wistron to set up a joint venture to assemble iPhones in India amid Apple’s plans to close the manufacturing gap with China.