India unit of Jabil, also an Apple manufacturer, has started locally manufacturing components for AirPods in the country. Jabil is also shipping plastic bodies or enclosures for Apple AirPods to China and Vietnam, says a report by news agency Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.
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This development comes close to the heels of rumours that Apple may be readying a budget AirPods TWS and a new AirPods Max for release in the second half (H2) of 2024. The new AirPods are likely to cost $99, which roughly translates into Rs 8,000 and will be around Rs 6,000 cheaper than the lowest-costing AirPods model in India that retails at Rs 14,900.
Apple has been diversifying its supply chain to India over the past few months. To recall, in October last year, Apple asked its contract manufacturers to shift some of its AirPods and Beats production to India for the first time ever.
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Now, Jabil's move to locally make AirPods components in India further indicates the tech giant's big shift in manufacturing away from China amid rising trade and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Earlier this month, a report said that Apple is mulling to shift from Samsung and LG and make its own custom displays for devices by as early as 2024. The tech giant is aiming to start changing the display in the highest-end Apple Watches by the end of 2024, news agency Bloomberg had reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Apple is aiming to reduce its dependency on display technology partners such as Samsung and LG and introduce more in-house components.
Meanwhile, Apple has recently outpaced rival Samsung to become the first company to export smartphones worth $1 billion or Rs 8,100 crore in a month from India. December was also a record month for the smartphone industry with mobile phone exports of over Rs 10,000 crore.