Apple Wants to Triple iPhone Production in India, Claims Report

[MacRumors]

Apple reportedly wants to triple its iPhone production capacity in India within the next two years, part of a larger plan to diversify its supply chain out of China and into other parts of the world.

According to a report by Mint, an unnamed "senior industry executive" said, "[Apple is] looking to scale up the volumes that they make from India. It can rise by more than three times what they aim to make this year." The report cites a second executive who said Apple has instructed Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron, three of its biggest suppliers, to increase their capacity and manpower in the country.

Just this week, it was announced Foxconn had invested $500 million in its Indian subsidiary in hopes of increasing its operational capacity in the country. Apple and its suppliers already produce several iPhone models in India, including the new iPhone 14, with reported plans to expand production to other products, including the iPad.

Supply of iPhone 14 Pro models ahead of the holiday season has been heavily limited due to disruptions in Foxconn's main plant in China. Apple said in a press release last month that it was "working hard" to restore supply to normal levels, but as the holidays approach, customers looking for a high-end iPhone will face a tough challenge.

Article Link: Apple Wants to Triple iPhone Production in India, Claims Report

 

[Marbles1]

Great. I wish apple would give people the choice of buying iPhones built in countries with slightly more pleasant regimes than China. I'd much rather buy a phone from India - a country not without issues but at least a democracy, than China.

 

[wdfly]

Wish the headline said “apple wants to move all production to the United States”

 

[Chazak]

Wish the headline said “apple wants to move all production to the United States”

That won't happen unless people buying those phones are willing to pay several hundred dollars more.

Apple would be competing against products built with dramatically lower assembly costs. Most components would still be produced outside of America.

 

[Candy Apple+ Nutz]

I say we move China out of China and then we’ll use their plants?

 

[Chips Stephens]

Funny how this is stated, tripling productivity in india, is still only a factional amount from what is produced in China.

Apple is tied at the hip with china. That in the big picture, and that will not change.

but ya it makes headlines, just like this one.

 

[wanha]

It's pretty clear that one of the biggest priorities at Apple at the moment - if not THE biggest priority - is to lessen the company's reliance on China.

I see this as a very welcome development, although I hope it does not take away too much management attention from the products (especially software)

 

[Kottu]

Being an Indian, I must say that it’s not an easy task to tripple the production. A lot of things to be changed to crete a large skilled workforce. Having almost a billion youth doesn't mean that the country is ready for any job.
Education system in India to be changed a lot. India still have 100 year old education system. In China communism kept people like slaves for many years. So, it was much easier for government to form them according to the need.

With proper guidelines and education system, two to three years are enough to change the direction. But how to do it is the question.

 

[sehns]

Wish the headline said “apple wants to move all production to the United States”

Do you also wish for your new iPhone to cost an extra $800?

 

[SnappleRumors]

Wish the headline said “apple wants to move all production to the United States”

Unfortunately the US does not the have resources it enjoys offshore … the workforce is soft and undisciplined, local governments are unfriendly to businesses, and the Federal government won’t subsidize these projects to the extent offshore will.

 

[hugodrax]

Do you also wish for your new iPhone to cost an extra $800?

How did you calculate this extra cost if it’s made in the US?

 

[hugodrax]

Unfortunately the US does not the have resources it enjoys offshore … the workforce is soft and undisciplined, local governments are unfriendly to businesses, and the Federal government won’t subsidize these projects to the extent offshore will.

I don’t get it we used to be able to make things in the US from Television sets, computers etc. People were able to afford it and have jobs.
So what changed?

 

[Fat_Guy]

Better late than never.

 

[DFZD]

They would have no excuse to sell iPhones to Indians at 30% and the pro lineup at over 50% markup.

 

[sehns]

I don’t get it we used to be able to make things in the US from Television sets, computers etc. People were able to afford it and have jobs.
So what changed?

It was cheaper to get a billion chinese peasants to make it instead, and ship it across the world. The corporate shareholders made more profits

 

[Canezmd]

Do you also wish for your new iPhone to cost an extra $800?

Rubbish... Tesla makes its cars here, Boeing it's airplanes, etc... they don't cost 40% more than global competition.

Build the phones sold in the U.S. in the U.S.

American purchases should profit American workers.

 

[SnappleRumors]

I don’t get it we used to be able to make things in the US from Television sets, computers etc. People were able to afford it and have jobs.
So what changed?

My opinion - which is nearly uniformly shared by entrepreneurs and business leaders in my circle - place the blame on social and political factors. Internally we haven’t adjusted well to prosperity and offshore is now more motivated to do what we once did to improve their own conditions.

That‘s my best unprovocative answer.

 

[Bonte]

Apple was already planning to produce 25% of iPhones in India by 2025, are they now planning to do more than that?

Apple to move 25% iPhone production to India by 2025, 20% iPad and Apple Watch to Vietnam, analysts say | TechCrunch

Apple began assembling some of its devices in India and Vietnam a few years ago, slowly cutting its reliance on China. The Cupertino-giant is now gearing up to make the two nations key global manufacturing hubs.

techcrunch.com

 

[dlewis23]

Do you also wish for your new iPhone to cost an extra $800?

How did you calculate this extra cost if it’s made in the US?

It would not be $800 but the cost would be a decent amount higher as the cost of labor in the US or if they made the phone in Europe as well is higher.

 

[ericwn]

Rubbish... Tesla makes its cars here, Boeing it's airplanes, etc... they don't cost 40% more than global competition.

Build the phones sold in the U.S. in the U.S.

American purchases should profit American workers.

The advantage in car manufacturing is that the assembly line can be operated largely by robots (likely due to the size of components) while the making of electronics like phones is mostly hand assembly where that cheap labour comes in handy. So either you pay more for the American labour or you pay more by making the products more automated in the production- which leads to less workers having jobs.

 

[VulchR]

Unfortunately the US does not the have resources it enjoys offshore … the workforce is soft and undisciplined, local governments are unfriendly to businesses, and the Federal government won’t subsidize these projects to the extent offshore will.

Resisting any political commentary because I've had my knuckles rapped by MR moderators. Suffice it say that I believe it would be a good idea to move production back into countries that at least aspire to have human rights, and in any case human workers will be less and less important as robots take over jobs like manual assembly.

 

[Scott6666]

That won't happen unless people buying those phones are willing to pay several hundred dollars more.

Apple would be competing against products built with dramatically lower assembly costs. Most components would still be produced outside of America.

https://nextshark.com/real-cost-of-iphone.

This says labor costs are like 7hrs per phone at $2/hr

So if moved to the US at $20/hr it would cost $140. So if people were willingly to pay an additional $100-150 per phone it could work.

 

[citysnaps]

Wish the headline said “apple wants to move all production to the United States”

The US doesn't have the infrastructure in place to build 600,000+ iPhones per day (on the average) every day of the year, with the ability to instantly ramp that number up or down depending on market dynamics (iPhone introductions and holidays with huge demand spikes, and when demand drops during lulls, etc).

The US could develop that, over time, with a resulting significant iPhone price increase. Would you be willing to gladly pay, say, an extra 20-30+% to have your phone completely manufactured in the US?

Should that happen, I suspect the whinefest here would be epic.

 

[UltimaKilo]

They would be smart to do so, and also to return to explore manufacturing in Brazil.

 

[Black Tiger]

Unfortunately the US does not the have resources it enjoys offshore … the workforce is soft and undisciplined, local governments are unfriendly to businesses, and the Federal government won’t subsidize these projects to the extent offshore will.

And see that right there is the myth. The actual truth is that large mega corporations like Apple overcharge for its products regardless of where they are built. Apple is worth $1 trillion dollars. Why are their phones so expensive? So that they can continue to hoard absurd amounts of wealth and pay top executives (eg not the people inventing anything) ridiculous bonuses.

They could move production into the west and cut the price of the iPhone and still make a sizeable profit easily. But the public has bought into this corporate nonsense and cult of wealth porn.