- Foxconn is set to start iPhone shipments from its Karnataka facility in June following successful final inspections.
- A senior Apple executive recently visited Foxconn and Tata Electronics sites in India to assess their readiness for upcoming product launches.
- Despite US pressure to manufacture locally, Apple plans to double its iPhone production in India to 25–30 million units by 2025.
Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing partner for Apple, is preparing to commence iPhone shipments from its facility in Karnataka in June, as final inspections are currently taking place for commercial release.
This new facility will be Foxconn's second-largest center for iPhone manufacturing, following its operations in China. Sources acquainted with the situation informed ET that a high-ranking official from Apple's operations team in Cupertino visited two supplier sites in India for inspections last week.
The trips involved evaluations at Foxconn's Bengaluru facility and Tata Electronics' Hosur site to check their operational preparedness and development progress prior to Apple’s new product launches. The Apple executive's trip to the vast 300-acre Foxconn facility in Devanahalli, located on the outskirts of Bengaluru, also acted as an operational review ahead of the expected launch of iPhone shipments next month.
This occurs at a moment when US President Donald Trump has criticized Apple’s growth strategies in India. Earlier this week, Trump mentioned that he has advised Apple CEO Tim Cook to establish manufacturing plants in the US, rather than in India. Foxconn plans to produce 25-30 million iPhones at its plants in India by 2025, which would be double the output from the previous year.
After four months of restricted testing at its Bengaluru facility, the company is moving closer to production that is ready for shipping. On May 1, Apple's CEO Tim Cook revealed that the majority of iPhones sold in the US in the June quarter would be produced in India.
Experts expect heightened demands from the Trump administration for Apple to set up iPhone manufacturing in the US. However, this shift could raise the iPhone's price to around $3,500, rendering it economically impractical for the Cupertino-based firm, analysts suggest.
"We believe that Apple could ramp up iPhone assembly production in India up to 60-65% by Fall in a best-case scenario but could easily pivot back to a China-driven iPhone strategy depending on the tariff situation and deal negotiations," Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities said in a report on Friday.