Apple To Begin Manufacturing AirPods in India Starting 2025

Apple AirPods manufacturing in India: Apple is expected to start manufacturing its truly wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds, the AirPods, in India in early 2025, a new report says. The move could provide a major boost to PM Modi's 'Make-in-India' plan and prove to be an important milestone in the company's plans of diversifying its manufacturing facilities beyond China, especially among rising global political tension.

As of now, Apple only manufactures its iPhones in India. The company began manufacturing its iPhones in India as early as in 2017. Over the years, the company has ramped up its production capabilities in the country. In 2021, Made-in-India iPhones became available in the market a few months after their launch. In 2022, this gap was reduced to around two weeks with the launch of the iPhone 14. With the launch of the iPhone 15 in 2023, Made-in-India iPhones became available in the market on the same day as the China-made iPhone models. All this while, the company restricted the manufacturing to the base iPhone models, which includes the Plus variants. Then in 2024, the company started manufacturing its entire iPhone series in the country, which includes the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Now, a new report by Bloomberg says that the company is planning to add its AirPods to its manufacturing portfolio in the country. The manufacturing process is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025 at a manufacturing plant of the Foxconn Technology Group near Hyderabad in Telangana. Furthermore, the report says Foxconn's factory has already started manufacturing Apple's AirPods on a trial basis, and that the manufacturing process is expected to ramp up after production begins next year.

The report points out that the Indian subsidiary of Jabil Inc began shipping the plastic encasing used in the AirPods to the company's manufacturing plants in China and Vietnam last year. Next year, the company will begin the manufacturing process in India, which will most likely be shipped to markets across the globe.