Apple’s US-bound iPhones can all be made outside China if needed, says contract manufacturer Foxconn
- The Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant is now running quality tests for the iPhone XR series in India
Apple has a backup plan if the US-China trade war gets out of hand.
The Cupertino California-based company’s primary manufacturing partner has enough capacity to make all iPhones bound for the US outside China if necessary, according to a senior executive at Hon Hai Precision Industry. The Taiwanese contract manufacturer, known also as Foxconn Technology Group, now makes most of the smartphones in the Chinese mainland.
China is a crucial cog in Apple’s business, the origin of most of its iPhones and iPads as well as its largest international market.
But US President Donald Trump has threatened Beijing with new tariffs on about US$300 billion worth of Chinese goods, an act that would escalate tensions dramatically while levying a punitive tax on Apple’s most profitable product.
Hon Hai, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, is the American technology giant’s most important manufacturing partner. It will fully support Apple if it needs to adjust its production as the US-Chinese trade row gets grimmer and more unpredictable, board nominee and semiconductor division chief Young Liu told an investor briefing in Taipei on Tuesday.