Apple’s provider Foxconn has begun importing elements from China to India for the meeting of the corporate’s upcoming iPhone 17, in response to a report by the Financial Occasions citing customs knowledge. The elements imported thus far might be meant for trial manufacturing, provided that their quantity is a fraction of what it was for older iPhone fashions.
The customs knowledge exhibits that numerous elements and sub-assemblies like show assemblies, cowl glass, mechanical housings, and built-in rear digital camera modules started arriving within the nation final month. In reality, elements for the iPhone 17 made up about 10% of the overall imports Foxconn introduced from China to India in June. Nearly all of the elements imported by the corporate that month had been for iPhone 16 and iPhone 14 variants, which it plans to promote in larger numbers in the course of the festive season sale in India.
iPhone 17 trial manufacturing to start this month
The ET report notes that trial manufacturing for the iPhone 17 will start this month, whereas mass manufacturing is predicted to begin in August forward of the flagship telephone’s launch in September. The Cupertino-based tech large plans to fabricate the iPhone 17 in India and China concurrently from day one, as India turns into a strategic export hub for the corporate, particularly for fashions despatched to the US market.
Notably, with the excessive tariffs utilized by the Donald Trump administration on China, Apple is ramping up its iPhone manufacturing in India and is planning to completely shift its sourcing of iPhones for the US market from China to India by 2026, even because the US authorities mounts strain to fabricate these telephones within the house nation.
iPhone exports from India to the US grew by 219% year-on-year in March, in response to S&P World Market Intelligence knowledge cited by ET.
Reportedly, Apple has been steadily narrowing the hole between iPhone manufacturing in China and India. iPhone 14 meeting started in India six weeks after it began in China, however for the iPhone 15, manufacturing commenced virtually concurrently in each international locations.
India participated in Apple’s new product introduction (NPI) course of for the iPhone 16 variants in 2024, marking the tip of exclusivity for China. The report states that Apple plans to proceed on that trajectory for the upcoming iPhone 17 variants.
