Worried about US-China Tensions, Apple is Expected to Shift 25 Percent of Its Production to India

Apple moved some of the production to India. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Apple Inc now intends to move their smartphone production from China to India. This move, according to JP Morgan, Wednesday, September 21, will allow the Cupertino tech giant to make one in four iPhones in the country by 2025. Apple's policy comes amid rising geopolitical tensions and a strict COVID-19 lockdown in the country. the.

The broker now expects Apple to move about 5% of iPhone 14 production by the end of 2022 to India, which is the world's second-largest smartphone market after China.

They also estimate that about 25% of all Apple products, including Macs, iPads, Apple Watch and AirPods, will be manufactured outside of China by 2025 from only about 5% at present.

Cupertino, California-headquartered Apple has staked large investments in India since starting assembling iPhones in the country in 2017 through Wistron, and later with Foxconn. This is in line with the Indian government's push for local manufacturing.

The pandemic has also hampered supply chain relocation plans for businesses, but with the easing of restrictions, more companies, including Apple, are accelerating these efforts this year.

"Taiwanese vendors such as Hon Hai and Pegatron played a key role in relocating to India. In the medium to long term, we also expect Apple to qualify for local Indian manufacturing suppliers," J.P. Morgan analysts led by Gokul Hariharan Reuters.

A Bloomberg report also said earlier this month that Indian conglomerate Tata Group was in talks with Wistron to set up a joint venture to assemble iPhones in the country amid Apple's plans to cut production breaks with China.