Apple to manufacture iPhone 14 models in India from launch: Analyst

In last couple of years, Apple has consistently increased capacity of its Indian manufacturing plant. As per a previous report by Wall Street Journal, Apple is considering moving out of China and expanding its manufacturing capacity in or countries like Vietnam and India. However, company is considering India as closest alternative to China. Recently, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also corroborated information.   

iPhone 14 will be manufactured in India

As per Kuo, upcoming iPhone 14 will be manufactured simultaneously in India and China from day of launch. With previous models, India has been behind in manufacturing iPhone by a couple of months. Kuo says, "India's iPhone capacities/shipments still have a considerable gap with China, but it's an important milestone for Apple in building a n-Chinese iPhone production site."

Although Kuo does t mention this, iPhone 14 could be manufactured at Foxconn plant near Chennai. In past, plant has manufactured models like iPhone 12 and iPhone 13. Manufacturing iPhones in India gives Apple a chance to provide discounts via third-party retailers. Last year during festive season, iPhone 11 (128GB) was available for below Rs. 40,000 and iPhone 12 (128GB) for under Rs. 55,000 in India. 

In future, if Apple finds situations favourable, it might increase capacity of manufacturing plants in India or even set up new ones. Up until w, company has got millions of iPhones manufactured in China, which are n sold around world. However, with Apple's increasing trust in Indian manufacturing plant, seeing more iPhone assembly lines in India might t be very far away. 

In 2022, Apple's focus seems to be shifting to 'Pro' models of iPhone. As per a new report from Ming-Chi Kuo, latest A16 Bionic chipset will be exclusive to iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Building up on that, vanilla iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max could feature last year's A15 Bionic chipset, providing similar performance as iPhone 13 series. Until w, both regular and Pro versions of iPhone were shipped with latest chipset.