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India’s share of global iPhone production forecast to match China’s by 2027 as Apple steps up supply chain diversification
- India is predicted to account for up to 50 per cent of total iPhone production capacity by 2027, according to the latest forecast from DigiTimes Research
- It is a more aggressive estimate than JPMorgan’s earlier prediction that India would assemble 25 per cent of total iPhones worldwide by 2025
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Coco Fengin Beijing
India is expected to assemble up to 50 per cent of Apple’s iPhones by 2027, up from fewer than 5 per cent at present, to be on par with the scale of production in mainland China, according to a new report.
“The speed of supply chain migration to India will be accelerated in the future because of the need to diversify risks in light of uncertainties in China’s pandemic control,” said Luke Lin, analyst at the research unit of tech-focused Taiwanese daily newspaper DigiTimes, in a report published on Tuesday.
India, which surpassed the UK last year to rank as the world’s fifth-largest economy, is already predicted to account for up to 25 per cent of total iPhone production by the end of 2023, and as much as 40 per cent by 2025, the report said.
China, where up to 85 per cent of iPhones globally were produced last year, is at risk of losing its dominant role as a manufacturing hub for Apple devices because of US-China decoupling moves, according to Lin. He expected India and Vietnam to be “the biggest beneficiaries” of Apple’s efforts to shift more of its manufacturing supply chain outside China.
The DigiTimes Research forecast is more aggressive than JPMorgan’s earlier prediction that India would assemble 25 per cent of total iPhones worldwide by 2025.
Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, has been one of the most aggressive Apple contractors to bolster its efforts in India. The world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer in December made a US$500 million cash injection into its Indian subsidiary, Foxconn Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development.
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