After Foxconn, Pegatron starts Apple iPhone 14 manufacturing in India: report

Taiwanese company Pegatron has become the second contract manufacturer to start assembly of the iPhone 14 from India as Apple looks to diversify manufacturing and cut dependence on China for supplies, Bloomberg News reported Friday citing unnamed sources. 

The assembly of the newly launched iPhone was started first in India in late September by Foxconn at its Sriperumbudur factory in Tamil Nadu within days of the global launch of the iPhone 14 series in the US. The new iPhones were launched on September 7 at the company’s Cupertino headquarters. 

Analysts had predicted that Apple might start iPhone 14 production early as compared to previous models. For instance, the assembly of the iPhone 13 was started in India in April, more than six months after it was launched in September 2021. 

Apple may shift 5% of iPhone 14’s production to India in late 2022 and make one out of five iPhones in India by 2025, said analysts at JP Morgan in September, Reuters reported. 

Pegatron has become the three contract manufacturers to make iPhones out of India. The latest iPhone along with the iPhone 13, iPhone 12, and iPhone 11 are currently being assembled at Foxconn’s Sriperumbudur facility. The iPhone SE is assembled in India by Wistron, another contract manufacturer. 

Pegatron is looking to expand its manufacturing capacity in India. In September, it announced an investment of ₹1,100 crore to build a new mobile phone manufacturing facility in the Chengalpattu district near Chennai. Pegatron claims the new facility will generate 14,000 jobs. 

India is emerging as one of the manufacturing destinations for smartphone makers who want to diversify their manufacturing base after Covid-19. The government of India's production-linked incentive schemes (PLI) schemes that provide tax incentives for exporting electronics has also encouraged phone brands to expand India assembly. 

India’s overall electronics export reached $16 billion in value in FY22 with mobile phones accounting for close to 33% of it, according to a joint report by India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) and policy think tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), published in August.

Mobile phones are expected to account for close to 50% of the overall electronics exports by March 2023, the report added.