The technological sector witnessed massive shortage of semiconductor chips across the world for over a year. The big brand Apple also suffered due to the shortage, that it had to stop production of iPhone and iPad but somehow it has secured supply of semiconductor chips and now plans to expand production of its iPhone in India. This will be a major push to the government's Make in India initiative.
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1. American technology company Apple has started trial production of its flagship iPhone 13 in the Foxconn plant near Chennai, as per the media reports. The company has thought to start commercial production of iPhone 13 in India for both the domestic market and exports by February. Apple has secured supply of semiconductor chips - which are in short supply across the world, and it has helped the company to plan expansion of production into India.
2. Production of iPhone 13 in India will help the US company to improve supplies of the model into its global markets as around 20-30% of what is produced in India are usually exported, the executives said. Apple only plans to make iPhone 13 in the country, for it being the largest selling model in India, and so the company does not plan to make iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max here.
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3. The US tech company already produces iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 in the Foxconn plant and iPhone SE in the Wistron plant in Bengaluru. As per reports, Apple produces almost 70% of the smartphones it sells in India within the country.
4. Market tracker IDC India's research director Navkendar Singh said “A lot of local production scaling up will depend on component availability,” he further added “The local production of iPhone 13 in India may ease a bit the low supplies in the country.”
5. Apple has been on a roll in India since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic where many consumers bought iPhones or iPad tablets or Mac computers due to work/study from home. iPhone sales in the year 2021 is expected to be 4-5 million units, up from 3 million units in 2020, despite supply issues.
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