Apple may reportedly move 20% of iPhone production from China to India

According to a report from Indian news outlet The Economic Times, Apple executives have been meeting with key Indian government officials to explore the possibility of moving a huge chunk of Apple’s iPhone production from China to India. Manufacturing revenues could soar to as much as $40 billion over the next five years. This is according to “officials familiar with the matter.”

We expect Apple to produce up to $40 billion worth of smartphones, mostly for exports through its contract manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn, availing the benefits under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.”

Apple doesn’t necessarily have a large market in India. According to the official, Apple wants India to be a new manufacturing base, mainly for export, likely to diversify its production outside of China. It’s reported that as much as 20% of Apple’s iPhone production could be moved to India.

The Indian official expects mobile phone exports to surpass $100 billion by 2025. From 2019-2020, smartphone exports out of India were around $3 billion. Apple already produces some iPhone XR units in India via Foxconn. Via Winstron, Apple once produced the first-gen iPhone SE, iPhone 6S, and iPhone 7 in India, but have since been discontinued.

Source