How Apple iPhone 14 may set new ‘made in India’ record – Times of India

According to one of the most-popular Apple analysts Ming-Chi Kuo, the tech giant is likely planning to ship the upcoming iPhone 14 simultaneously from factories in China and India. In a thread on micro-blogging website Twitter, Kuo said, “My latest survey indicates Foxconn’s iPhone production site in India will ship the new 6.1” iPhone 14 almost simultaneously with China for the first time in 2H22 (India being one quarter or more behind in the past).”
“In the short term, India’s iPhone capacities/shipments still have a considerable gap with China, but it is an important milestone for Apple in building a non-Chinese iPhone production site,” Kuo added in the post. “It implies that Apple is trying to reduce the geopolitical impacts on supply and sees the Indian market as the next key growth driver,” wrote Kuo in the third and last tweet of this thread.

If this indeed happens, it will be the first time ever that a brand new Apple iPhone will come with ‘made in India‘ tag at the very launch. While Apple has been manufacturing iPhones in India for many years now, the country has never shipped the latest iPhones at the time of launch. Apple started manufacturing iPhones in India with the first-generation iPhone SE in the year 2018. Since then, several iPhones have joined this list including iPhone X, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and iPhone SE 2. Wistron was the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to make iPhones in India at its facility in Karnataka. The OEM reportedly also made iPhone 6s models in India for other Asian markets in the year 2018-19.

Apple part of Indian government’s PLI scheme
In 2020, the Indian government approved incentives under its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to boost domestic smartphone production to 16 companies across the country. The list includes Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron. Under the PLI plan, these companies have to make certain investments in India to get the incentives. In the past two years, Apple has seen considerable growth in the Indian market. A report recently claimed said that the tech giant sold over 1.2 million iPhones in India in the second quarter of this year, registering a massive 94% growth (year-on-year).
Apple iPhone 13 is the latest iPhone to get ‘made-in-India’ tag. In March this year, Apple confirmed that after trial production at its partner Foxconn’s Chennai plant, the smartphone will now be manufactured in India.