Apple, a US tech giant has revealed the manufacturing of its new flagship smartphone, iPhone 14 in India.
This was disclosed on Monday, as it seeks to diversify production dependence on China.
According to analysts, the iPhone supply chain is based mainly in China but the country’s zero- Covid policies and tensions with the United States have hurt production.
“We’re excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India,” Apple said in a brief statement.
The California-based firm already makes older iPhone models in India via Taiwanese manufacturers such as Foxconn, which has a factory in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
However, in a recent report, the iPhone maker had said it would close the gap between the times it takes to switch production from China to India. Even so, Apple initially planned to start making the first iPhone 14 models in India only in October. But the firm was able to solve a supply chain issue that’s why it could start production in India sooner.
The latest announcement comes just weeks after Apple launched new smartphones. The tech behemoth is commencing production of the iPhone 14 in India much earlier than it did for previous models, Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said.
“Over the last couple of years, it has been increasingly diversifying its supply chain to India,” Chaurasia told AFP.
About 7.5 million iPhones around three percent of Apple’s global production were made in India last year, the analyst added.
“We expect that the local production of iPhones could reach more than 11 million this year,” he said.
Apple’s announcement will be a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” strategy under which he has urged foreign businesses to manufacture goods in the South Asian nation.