Foxconn, Apple’s Taiwanese manufacturing partner, is set to start iPhone shipments from its Karnataka facility in June, with final inspections currently underway for commercial dispatch.This new facility will become Foxconn’s second-largest iPhone manufacturing centre, after its Chinese operation.Sources familiar with the matter told ET that a senior executive from Apple’s operations team in Cupertino conducted inspections at two supplier facilities in India last week. The visits included assessments at Foxconn’s Bengaluru unit and Tata Electronics‘ Hosur plant to evaluate their operational readiness and development status before new product launches by Apple.The Apple executive’s visit to the expansive 300-acre Foxconn premises in Devanahalli, situated on Bengaluru’s outskirts, also served as an operational assessment before the anticipated start of iPhone shipments in the coming month.
Apple India Plans
This comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has frowned upon Apple’s expansion plans in India. Earlier this week Trump said that he has told Apple CEO Tim Cook to set up manufacturing facilities in the US, instead of India.However, government officials and suppliers maintain that plans are proceeding as scheduled, with no directives from Apple to stop or delay the diversification of contract supply from China.Foxconn aims to manufacture 25-30 million iPhones at its Indian facilities in 2025, doubling its previous year’s production. Following four months of limited testing at its Bengaluru facility, the company is advancing towards shipping-ready production. On May 1, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook announced that most iPhones sold in the US during the June quarter would be manufactured in India.Foxconn’s presence spans across three Indian states: Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana.Also Read | Why Apple won’t find it easy to move iPhone production from India to USAnalysts anticipate increased pressure from the Trump administration for Apple to establish iPhone production in the US. But, such a transition may increase the iPhone price to approximately $3,500, making it commercially unfeasible for the Cupertino-based company, say analysts.“We believe that Apple could ramp up iPhone assembly production in India up to 60-65% by Fall in a best-case scenario but could easily pivot back to a China-driven iPhone strategy depending on the tariff situation and deal negotiations,” Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities said in a report on Friday. “We see no chance that iPhone production starts to happen in the US in the near term given the upside-down cost model and Herculean-like supply chain logistics needed for such an initiative,” he wrote.Neil Shah, vice president at Counterpoint Research says that Foxconn will have to ramp up its India capacity by at least five times. “Almost all iPhones for the US market are likely to be produced in India, depending on how the sanctions negotiations go and if Apple plans to move to India completely,” he said.The Taiwanese firm aims to commence production at the Bengaluru plant promptly, as it is “critical for Foxconn to maintain a lion’s share of iPhone production and PLI incentives,” Shah added.Also Read | ‘Don’t want you building in India’: Donald Trump’s clear message to Apple CEO Tim Cook to ‘Make in US’; says India can take care of themselves
