Apple Mulling To Assemble More than 50 Million iPhones Annually In India

It is pertinent to note that the iPhone maker is facing an uphill battle as it plans to shift production which was earlier limited to only China.

Apple and its suppliers are planning to manufacture over 50 million iPhones annually in India within the next two to three years. In other words, the tech giant intends to assemble a quarter of the world's iPhones, a report by The Wall Street Journal, said on Friday. Cupertino, California-based Apple's plans, if successful, would mean a quarter of global iPhone production, will happen in India. However, China will continue to be the largest iPhone producer, globally. The largest Foxconn facilities in China employ hundreds of thousands of workers.

It is pertinent to note that the iPhone maker is facing an uphill battle as it plans to shift production which was earlier limited to only China.

Foxconn, Apple's primary and biggest contract manufacturer and supplier, aims to establish additional manufacturing factories in India, while Tata Group is preparing to construct one of the country's largest iPhone assembly plants in the southern Indian state ofr Tamil Nadu. News agency Bloomberg reported on Friday that India's biggest conglomerate is mulling to construct one of the largest iPhone assembly plants in the country, aligning with Apple Inc.'s goal to boost manufacturing in the South Asian nation.

Apple is said to have shifted 7 per cent of search iPhone assembling in India. The new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models are also being manufactured by Apple's contract manufacturer Foxconn's production unit near Chennai. 

The proposed manufacturing unit is likely to be situated in Hosur, in Tamil Nadu. The aim is to make the facility operational within 12 to 18 months, featuring approximately 20 assembly lines and a have workforce of 50,000 within two years, the report added.

Currently, the Indian conglomerate manages an iPhone manufacturing unit acquired from Wistron Corp. in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. 

Tata Group is poised to assemble Apple iPhones in the country for domestic and international markets, Minister of State (MoS) IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar had previosuly said. The MoS IT also congratulated Tata Group for taking over the operations of Wistron's unit. With this, Tata Group has become become the first homegrown iPhone maker.

According to estimates from the Department of Commerce and the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), mobile phone exports during the April-August period hit $5.5 billion, compared to $3 billion (approximately Rs 25,000 crore) in the corresponding period of FY22-23, according to IANS.