Apple is conducting early manufacturing of the iPhone 17 — the purported successor to the iPhone 16 that was launched earlier this 12 months — at a manufacturing unit in India, based on a report. It’s anticipated to be the primary time that the Cupertino firm is conducting its product improvement outdoors China. Over the previous few years, Apple has been engaged on diversifying its provide chain by producing current smartphone fashions in areas like India and Vietnam, nevertheless it stays depending on China for many of its manufacturing.
Citing two folks conscious of the corporate’s plans, The Info stories (by way of 9to5Mac) that Apple is conducting early manufacturing work, or the method of turning an early design developed at Apple Park right into a business product, at an unspecified manufacturing unit in India. As a part of this course of, known as new product introduction (or NPI), Apple checks gear and processes to include new {hardware} upgrades (or new designs) forward of mass manufacturing.
This improvement is according to TF Securities Worldwide analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s prediction in November 2023. On the time, Kuo had claimed that Apple would start the early improvement of the iPhone 17 — anticipated to reach within the second half of 2025 — in India as a substitute of China.
Whereas Apple has been producing current iPhone fashions in India and different international locations, the choice to begin early manufacturing of the iPhone 17 in India is critical due to the complexity concerned within the course of. The corporate normally conducts its NPI for upcoming merchandise in China, between October and Might, based on the publication.
Apple’s determination to diversify its provide chain outdoors China began earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, and the corporate began to assemble its handsets in India beginning with the iPhone SE in 2017. Again in 2022, the iPhone 14 collection manufacturing in China briefly took successful, following a pandemic-related shutdown at a Foxconn plant in China. The corporate additionally reportedly started producing its Professional fashions within the nation this 12 months, beginning with the iPhone 16 Professional.