Apple is the world’s biggest maker of the so-called true wireless stereo devices, a category that includes only earphones and headphones. An Apple Inc. supplier has begun to make components for the AirPods in India and this has marked a significant step in the US tech giant’s push to expand its production in the Indian subcontinent.
Apple is in the midst of a major push for production in India
The Indian unit of Jabil Inc. has begun shipping AirPods enclosures, or plastic bodies, to China and Vietnam, where the wireless earphones would be assembled and the people familiar with this matter stated the move to be not public while taking care to not name the people involved. Apple is trying to build out production in India to reduce its reliance on China as the US trade restrictions and Covid-related disruptions and disputes have already made manufacturing riskier in China. The output in India has far been limited to only the iPhone and this has made AirPods, the second Apple product that is now partially manufactured in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it a matter of national priority so that India’s manufacturing sector can grow by providing financial incentives and government support for the expansion projects of the company. Apple has already played a central role in giving this effort, along with partners such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. which has led to the production of more iPhones in the country for the latest generation than ever before. This would be the most remarkable time in Indian history when a
US giant would like to expand its markets in India.
Apple is diversifying its supply chain with United States
US manufacturing services provider Jabil operates an 858,000-square-foot facility that employs more than 2,500 workers in Pune. According to the research firm Canalys, Apple shipped 23.8 million units of stereo devices in the third quarter for a 31% market share. India is still a period time away from getting Apple to fully manufacture its AirPods locally in India. New Delhi has given initial clearances to more than a dozen of its Chinese suppliers to ramp up through joint ventures with the Indian partners.
Luxshare Precision Industry Co Ltd., one of Apple’s Chinese suppliers which yields in manufacturing AirPods, is among the companies that have gained that approval.
Luxshare 2020 has agreed to take over a shuttered Motorola plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in India, but it is yet to begin manufacturing Apple products locally.
Apple’s Indian suppliers have also started making Apple AirPods
One of the people said that Apple’s latest push to India comes as the Modi government is drawing up plans to provide financial incentives for local production of wireless earphones and smartwatches. Neil Shah, the Vice President resident of research at Counterpoint, states that enclosures should be made typically as the first step for the full-fledged production of Apple AirPods and that Apple has won the initial approval for some suppliers including Luxshare. He also said that they are very sure that they are going to build a supply chain for the end product.
Cupertino, a California-based Apple supplier has a long way to go for diversifying out of China, which makes nearly 98% of iPhones. The prevailing tensions between Washington and Beijing, along with a Covid flareup at a major plant in the country exposed all the vulnerabilities in the company’s supply chain. The company still has tried to make progress with the effort. Partner Hon Hai began making iPhone 14 in India just weeks after the model’s global launch, and due to this, Apple exported more than $2.5 billion of its devices from the South Asian nation from April to December.
Takeaway: Apple’s expansion moves to India
It can be seen that the highly productive development strategies are highly going to affect the progress of the US giant as well as of the Indian companies 8n a positive way. The dependency on China can be reduced by making centers of production in India itself. This will help Apple to diversify its client lists and will also help to expand its businesses all over the world.
