Apple iPhone 13 India assembly trial begins, commercial production from Feb 2022

Foxconn, a prominent electronics manufacturer, has started trial assembly of the Apple iPhone 13 out of its plant near Chennai. According to a report, the trial phase has commenced already, and will move to commercial production of the new generation iPhones from February 2022. 

Apple’s move to assemble its latest generation smartphone in India has reportedly come after the company secured supply of semiconductor components for the process. According to reports, iPhones exported to international markets from India have risen to 5% in 2021. 

Apple has already been assembling some of its smartphones in India for a while. The company produces its iPhone SE (2020), iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 smartphones in the country, and its commencement of iPhone 13 production falls in line with the approximate timeline of when the iPhone 12’s India production commenced, reports claimed. 

Also read: Apple doubled India biz in 2021; sold 3.2 mn iPhones in 2020

According to data from Counterpoint Research, three-fourth of all iPhones that are sold in India are assembled in the country. The percentage of locally assembled iPhones rose through 2021, after 2020 saw 59% of Apple’s smartphone sales in the country coming from India-assembled devices. 

India, however, is looking to push for setting up the entire manufacturing chain in the country. The government recently announced incentives worth Rs 76,000 crore to boost manufacturing of chipsets and components, as well as setup packaging and designing of semiconductors in the country. 

For now, though, all smartphones produced in India are assembled here -- with the components being sourced from international markets. India setting up its own semiconductor manufacturing facilities will help the country reduce its dependence on other markets such as China and Taiwan -- where most of the world’s core components of electronics manufacturing are sourced.