Apple Inc plans to start making the iPhone 14 in India about two months after its release out of China. This will narrow the gap from the typical six to nine months for previous launches, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that Apple has been working with suppliers to ramp up manufacturing in India and the first iPhone 14s from the south Asian country are likely to be finished in late October or November, following the initial September release.
Taiwan-based supplier Foxconn, which makes parts for Apple, has studied the process of shipping items from China and assembling the iPhone 14 at its plant outside southern Indian city of Chennai.
Apple is looking at various options after Beijing’s skirmishes with Washington and lockdowns across China which put production in disarray.
News agency Reuters attempted to contact Apple for comment, but the tech giant did not immediately respond.
Apple has been moving some areas of iPhone production from China to other markets including India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market. I is also planning to assemble iPad tablets in India.
Countries like India, Mexico and Vietnam are becoming increasingly important as American Brands look to diversify production away from China.
Earlier, the U.S. was considering limiting shipments of American chipmaking equipment to memory chip makers in China in a bid to halt China’s semiconductor sector advances and protect U.S. companies, reported Reuters.
If the US goes ahead with the move ,it could hurt South Korean memory chip giants Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and SK Hynix Inc, which have big factories in China.
Last week, Nikkei reported that Apple suppliers are in talks to produce Apple Watch and MacBook in Vietnam for the first time.
