Recently, according to Cailianshe, Apple’s supply chain ecosystem has undergone significant changes, and Indian factories have begun assembling the new iPhone to be released in early September. This is the first time that Apple has started production in India before the release of a new iPhone, marking an important turning point in Apple’s supply chain.
Normally, new and high-end iPhone models are exclusively produced by factories in China, while Indian suppliers are mainly responsible for the assembly of low-end or older models. This time, the Indian factory not only undertook the assembly task of the entry-level iPhone 16, but also took over some of the production orders of the Pro series, which is seen as a major adjustment in Apple’s supply chain.
According to internal information from the supply chain, Indian factories assembled about 30 million iPhones last year, and the production capacity has increased to 18 million in the first half of this year. These devices will not only meet the needs of the local Indian market, but will also be exported to overseas markets such as the United States.
Despite this, analysts point out that India’s manufacturing industry still faces certain limitations and can only provide supply chain diversification for mainstream consumer electronics brands such as Apple to a certain extent, and help them expand into the Indian market. In the first quarter of this year, Apple’s mobile phone shipments in India increased by 19%, pushing its revenue in the Indian market to a record high. In India’s high-end mobile phone market (priced over $800), Apple occupies 69% of the market share, while Samsung accounts for the remaining 31%.
However, for the so-called “Indian Apple chain”, there are still challenges to achieve greater development. Ivan Lam, an analyst at technology research firm Counterpoint Research, said that in the next few years, India’s growth in Apple’s supply chain will mainly focus on the assembly of final products. The production of more critical electronic and mechanical components will still be concentrated in China because India cannot yet match China in terms of efficiency, infrastructure and talent reserves.
