New iPhone Starts Production Outside China Prior to Announcement for First Time

Apple supplier Foxconn is starting production of the iPhone 15 in India, the first time that a new iPhone has been made outside China prior to its announcement, Bloomberg reports.

iPhone 15 Cyan and Magenta Frosted Back Feature
The devices are to be manufactured at a Foxconn plant in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. The facility is preparing to deliver devices just weeks after they begin shipping from factories in China, narrowing the gap between manufacturing operations in India and China even further. Prior to the release of the iPhone 14, iPhones made in India lagged operations in China by around six to nine months.

This is the first time that a new ‌iPhone‌ model has started mass production in India before it has been announced by Apple. Last year's ‌iPhone 14‌ models started production in India in late September.

The scale of ‌iPhone 15‌ production in India apparently depends on the availability of imported components and and the ramp-up of production lines. Pegatron and Wistron factories are also due to soon come on stream to assemble the ‌iPhone 15‌.

In addition, DigiTimes today reports that Foxconn plans to manufacture AirPods in India by the end of 2024 at its facility near Hyderabad, Telangana.

Manufacturing in India is a key part of Apple's plan to diversify its supply chain away from concentration in China. Apple reportedly plans to produce 25% of all iPhones in India by 2025, with other products such as the iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods set to follow.

Related Roundup: iPhone 15
Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

best buy holiday

Best Buy Reveals Black Friday Plans With Sitewide Sales Available Now

Friday November 8, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Black Friday sales are continuing today with Best Buy kicking off early Black Friday deals that will last for the next few days. Similar to other retailers, Best Buy's early Black Friday event includes sitewide savings on Apple products, headphones, TVs, monitors, video games, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may...
mac mini thermal architecture feature

New Mac Mini Has Modular Storage, 256GB Model Will Have Faster SSD

Friday November 8, 2024 7:06 am PST by
Apple has returned to using two 128GB storage chips in the new Mac mini with 256GB of storage, according to a partial teardown video shared on social media today. This means the base-model Mac mini with the M4 chip will not have significantly slower SSD speeds compared to higher-end configurations of the computer with 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, as multiple NAND chips allows for faster SSD...
iphone passcode green

Cops Suspect iOS 18 iPhones Are Communicating to Force Reboots, Making Unlocking Harder

Thursday November 7, 2024 2:20 pm PST by
Law enforcement officials in Detroit, Michigan are warning other police officers about an alleged iPhone change that causes Apple devices stored for forensic examination to spontaneously restart, reports 404 Media. iPhones that are undergoing examination have apparently been rebooting, which makes them harder to unlock with brute force methods, and Michigan police think that it's due to a...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 2

Monday November 4, 2024 12:34 pm PST by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about. Find My Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
maxresdefault

Hands On With Apple's New M4 Mac Mini

Friday November 8, 2024 12:21 pm PST by
Apple launched the new Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro models with M4 chips today, and because the Mac mini is the only one of the machines that got a design update, we thought we'd check it out to see how it compares to the prior version. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The 2024 version of the Mac mini is much smaller than the previous M2 model, so it takes up...
High Power Mode Feature 2

Apple Expands High Power Mode to MacBook Pro and Mac Mini Models With M4 Pro Chip

Thursday November 7, 2024 12:15 pm PST by
High Power Mode is available on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models with the M4 Pro chip, according to Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham. The feature was previously limited to Macs with Apple's highest-end "Max" chip, so this is the first time it is available on Macs with a "Pro" chip. This is the second time that Apple has expanded availability of High Power...
next generation carplay multi display

Here's the Latest on Next-Generation CarPlay After 2.5 Years of Waiting

Wednesday November 6, 2024 8:33 am PST by
It has been nearly two and a half years since Apple first previewed next-generation CarPlay at WWDC 2022, and it has still yet to become available in any vehicles. Below, we recap the latest information about next-generation CarPlay. Launch Timing Apple's website continues to say that the first vehicles with next-generation CarPlay support will "arrive in 2024," but it has yet to provide ...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Skipping the New MacBook Pro? Here Are the Rumors About M5 Models

Friday November 8, 2024 9:35 am PST by
The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips launched in stores today. If you are not planning to upgrade this year, be aware that there are already rumors about next year's MacBook Pro models with M5 series chips. It appears the MacBook Pro will remain on an annual upgrade cycle next year. Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said camera module...

Top Rated Comments

Mr. Dee Avatar
16 months ago

What about North America and Europe? No plan(t)s there?
We all know what would happen:

Cindy in America: I broke a nail assembling this iPhone, I have to go on PTO and file a lawsuit for work place safety and inhumane treatment.

Pierre in France: Works from 10 am to 11 am and goes to cafe for the rest of day. L'assemblage de l'iPhone soit damné!
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
3530025 Avatar
16 months ago
Great news!

Excited for iPhone 15 from outside of China.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
USB-Adapter Avatar
16 months ago
What about North America and Europe? No plan(t)s there?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jimmy_uk Avatar
16 months ago
“Roll up, roll up. Not only do we offer the screen lottery, now we have made in Indian or China. Get your ticket to play soon”
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GuruZac Avatar
16 months ago
Production outside of China is great. I also never understand the arguments that producing phones where people are paid well, have decent benefits, at the literal cost of increased purchase price is a bad thing. I'd happily pay $2K for a phone in light of all that it does for me, at a 2-3 year interval (some would still upgrade annually) if that meant whoever was producing my phone was well paid, had benefits. I know it's a very unpopular opinion around here, but the annual iPhone release should go away. The changes YoY are so incrementally small now, that a 2 year cycle would be both more exciting and provide more meaningful changes. Focus on software YoY since that is where the user really notices differences in experience day to day.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gleepskip Avatar
16 months ago

It would probably double the prices.

We will need to consider: higher worker wages, shorter working hours, stricter environmental regulations (so the factories can’t just dump their toxic rubbish anywhere they please), plus re-diverting supply chains away from their current main Asian hubs.

Can be tricky…
So, in other words, responsibly. :cool:
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)