Apple is accelerating its “betting” on the Indian market. On August 2, the Times of India reported that a contract manufacturer of Apple is studying the transfer of six production lines from China to India in order to export 5 billion USD worth of iPhone from India.
The report also mentioned that the new facility will create about 55,000 jobs in India in the coming year and will expand production to tablet, computer and notebook manufacturing.
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The market interpreted this as another move by Apple to transfer production lines from China, but in fact this plan has already been implemented.
Not long ago, India’s Minister of Communications and Technology Pratha announced that the iPhone 11 has been put into production by Hon Hai (Foxconn’s parent company) in Chennai, India. This is the latest flagship model produced by Apple for the first time in India.
It should be pointed out that before the iPhone 11 went into production, the Indian factory mainly produced two mobile phones, the iPhone XR and iPhone 7, which were produced by Hon Hai and Wistron respectively.
India’s Economic Times stated that by selling locally manufactured equipment in India, Apple can avoid India’s 22% import tax on foreign-made electronic products.
There are also reports that Apple’s expansion of production in India will in turn reduce its dependence on China, where most of the iPhones are currently produced.
The Nikkei website reported that there were more than 46 Chinese suppliers supplying parts to Apple in 2019, surpassing Japan and the United States for the first time; at the same time, according to Apple’s fiscal 2020 second-quarter results, Apple’s second fiscal quarter Greater China District revenue was 9.455 billion USD, accounting for 16.21% of total revenue of 58.313 billion USD.
As a result, China is not only Apple’s important production and supply base, but also Apple’s main source of revenue.
But recently, the remarks about “Apple withdrawing from China” once caused heated discussion on the Internet. Foxconn founder Guo Taiming once replied that once Apple withdraws, the consequences will be unimaginable, and a large number of Chinese companies will face bankruptcy.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview that Apple will not withdraw from China because of the production interruption caused by the epidemic.
