• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Mass Production of iPhones Moves to India

Mass Production of iPhones Moves to India

Mass Production of iPhones Moves to India
April 16, 2019
Bloomberg

Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou said the iPhone will go into mass production in India this year, a shift for the largest assembler of Apple Inc.’s handsets that has long concentrated production in China.

Gou said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited him to India as his Taiwanese company plans its expansion in the country. Apple has had older phones produced at a plant in Bangalore for several years, but now will expand manufacturing to more recent models. Bloomberg News reported this month that Foxconn is ready to start trial production of the latest iPhones in the country before it starts full-scale assembly at its factory outside the southern city of Chennai.

“In the future we will play a very important role in India’s smartphone industry,” Gou said at an event in Taiwan. “We have moved our production lines there.”

India has become the fastest-growing smartphone market in the world, while China stagnates and Apple loses share to local competitors such as Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Corp. Apple has been a minor player in India, in part because of its high prices, but local manufacturing would help the Cupertino, California-based company avoid import duties of 20 percent.

“For Foxconn, the China market for iPhones is saturated, and labor costs are three times higher compared with India,” said Karn Chauhan, a Gurgaon-based analyst at Counterpoint Research. “India is still an emerging smartphone market, it has a lot of potential domestically and could serve as an export hub for the region.”

Gou also said on Monday that he plans to step back from daily operations to focus on broader strategy. The founder isn’t stepping down or relinquishing his chairmanship, said Louis Woo, special assistant to Gou.

It’s not yet clear how Apple’s steps into India will affect its China operations. China has been the company’s most important manufacturing base for years, home to Foxconn’s biggest facilities and hundreds of other partners.

Foxconn already has two assembly sites in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where it makes devices for Xiaomi and Nokia. Locating more production in India would help diversify Apple and Foxconn’s manufacturing footprint away from China amid ongoing trade tensions with the U.S.

The Indian assembly line of Foxconn’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. would serve local and export markets by the time Apple announces its next iPhone models in September, people familiar with the matter have said. The Taiwanese contract manufacturer, the biggest maker of iPhones, will initially invest about $300m to set up for Apple with investments to ramp up as capacity expands, they said.

Gou said that his company is talking with the government about investment terms. He has a dozen software people in India and he plans to increase that to 600, he said.

“We are the primary assembler after all,” Gou said on Monday. “If our customer wants to boost its scale, it will need to depend on us to grow the comprehensive supply chain.”

Producing phones locally would also help Apple’s retail push in India. The company needs to meet a 30 percent local sourcing rule to be able to open its own stores in the country.

Indians bought more than 140 million smartphones last year, with just 1.7 million sold by Apple, as consumers favored cheaper models from China. On Xiaomi’s Indian website, the Redmi Note 7 has a price of 9,999 rupees ($143), which is about a 10th the price of Apple’s iPhone Xs in the country.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Facility Location Planning Supply Chain Planning & Optimization Technology Business Strategy Alignment Global Supply Chain Management High-Tech/Electronics
KEYWORDS Asia Pacific Business Strategy Alignment Facility Location & Network Design Global Supply Chain Management High-Tech/Electronics SC Planning & Optimization
Bloomberg

Bombardier CEO Sees Blue Skies and Less Debt After Major Overhaul

More from this author

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • karen-jones.jpg

    Watch: Four Industry Disrupters Impacting Logistics

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • THE SPACE AROUND A COMPUTER KEYBOARD IS CLUSTERED WITH IMAGES GENERIC SHIPPING BOXES

    How Suppliers Can Overcome E-Commerce Supply Chain Challenges

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A SEATED PERSON HOLDS A SMARTPHONE, SHOPPING

    Retail Consumer Data: The Key to Personalization, or Privacy Violation?

    Regulation & Compliance
  • TWO MEN IN SUITS ENGAGE IN CONVERSATION ACROSS A COFFEE TABLE HOLDING AN OPEN LAPTOPIN AN OFFICE

    For Shippers, Disruption Means Opportunity to Rethink Carrier Strategy

    LTL/Truckload Services
  • A BLUE AND WHITE JET BLUE PLANE FLIES ABOVE A YELLOW SPIRIT PLANE ON THE TARMAC OF AN AIRPORT

    Biden’s Antitrust Push Across Agencies Is Working to Block Deals

    Air Cargo

Digital Edition

Scb q1 2023 cover

2023 Supply Chain Management Resource Guide: Packing for a Difficult Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Holman Logistics Honeywell Intelligrated
IFM Infor Inmar
Keelvar Kinaxis Korber
Lean Solutions Group 2H Liberty SBF Locus Robotics
Logility LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems
MCA Connect MPO Nvidia
Old Dominion OpenText ORTEC
Overhaul Parsyl PMMI
QIMA Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash
Saddle Creek Logistics Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG
Ship4WD Shipwell Shyft
Sourcemap Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing