Your next iPhone might be made in India rather than China as Apple looks to move some of its production out of the country.
According to Reuters, Tim Cook and co. is moving production capacity to India amid "mounting geopolitical tensions and strict COVID-19 lockdowns" in China. The J.P. Morgan analysts expect Apple to move about 5% of its iPhone 14 production to India by the end of 2022.
The move may also be wise, as India is one of the largest smartphone markets in the world, second only to China. And, it's not only iPhones expected to be made outside the country.
Products including the Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods will likely start seeing an increase in production in other countries. The analysts predict by 2025, "25% of all Apple products manufactured outside of China."
Apple has had some iPhone assembly in India since 2017 and has been looking to get more production over to the country in recent years; however, the pandemic and the ensuing supply chain issues over the last few years have made it a little harder for Apple to make the switch.
Apple production is always in flux
This news comes from the back of reports indicating that Apple has asked Hon Hai (Foxconn) to switch production lines of the iPhone 14 to the iPhone 14 Pro models. That report came from Ming-chi Kuo, an Apple analyst, whose sources within the with supply chain tend to be pretty accurate.
On top of that, we heard earlier this year that iPad production was taken out of China for the first time. Some iPad manufacturing has been moved to Vietnam, a move that reportingly Apple has wanted to make for a while, but the COVID-19 pandemic made a move untenable before now. AirPods also see a portion of its production in Vietnam as well.
