According to recent statements by Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Apple is about to transfer 25% of iPhone production in Indian territory. CNBC reports that the Minister does not hide his pride and does not hesitate to “ promote the commercial merits of the world’s fifth largest economy “.
India rather than China for Apple?
According to Piyush Goyal, Apple has already transferred between 5 and 7% of its production in India. ” If I’m not mistaken, they aim to increase to 25% of their manufacturing by 2025 “, specifies the Indian minister. Apple declined to comment on this statement. Yet this is no surprise to anyone. Apple has presumably planned to transfer 25% of iPhone production in India by 2025. For the past few months, the American company step up its efforts to gain independence from China.
The Cupertino company has two new countries in mind to develop its production capacities: India and Vietnam. Several factors push Apple to leave China. First, there are the growing tensions between the United States and China. With the health crisis and the zero covid policy applied by the Chinese government, Apple also understood that it was essential to diversify your supply chain. This is why Tim Cook’s company is interested in India and plans to transfer part of the production of the iPhone there.
In fact, Apple has been assembling its iPhone in India since 2017. It was never a large-scale production and usually it was older models. On the other hand since 2022 and the release of the iPhone 14 Apple has chosen to produce its latest model in India, just after the announcement of its launch. It was a first. A sign that the pace should intensify in the years to come. For this, Apple can count on its main supplier: Foxconn. In fact, Taiwanese already manufactures the brand’s smartphones in its factory in Sriperumbudur.
At the same time, Apple also sees the potential of the Indian market. The country will soon be the most populous in the world, ahead of China, and the apple brand only holds 5% market share on smartphones. Tim Cook has long viewed India as a potential growth area for his business. In this regard, Apple would consider opening physical stores in the country. Indeed, the American company has published a dozen job offers to be filled now in India. The job title ” store manager suggests that an Apple Store could see the light of day very soon in a major Indian city.
