BEIJING, October 5  (TMTPOST)— More and more signs show Apple Inc is gradually moving suppliers’ production outside China.

Source: Visual China

Apple is in talks with suppliers to shift some AirPods and Beats production to India, and the production, which is said to start as early as next year, will allow India for the first time to become a region for its headphone supply, Nikkei Asia cited sources on Wednesday. Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer as well as iPhone’s largest original equipment manufacturer (OEM), will first make Beats in the country and then seek to produce AirPods there, according to the Japanese media outlet. Luxshare Precision Industry, another Chinese supplier, is reported to plan to help make AirPods in the Southern Asian country, but its production there could not be as fast as competitors since it focuses on AirPods operations in Vietnam.

While Apple’s representative didn’t comment on the report, the U.S. tech giant has been diversifying its supply chain by moving away from China amid Covid-19 related disruptions and ongoing uncertainty of Sino-US relations.

Apple announced in April to start making iPhone 13 in India, which seems as one of signs to highlight increasing importance of countries like India, Vietnam and Mexico for suppliers who try to improve diversification of production away from China.

In August, Apple reportedly asked suppliers to first produce Apple Watches, HomePods and MacBooks in Vietnam. A month later, Apple confirmed it was assembling iPhone 14 in India, less than three weeks from its release of the new iPhone series. The confirmation suggests India will first make the latest flagship iPhone.

JP Morgan Chase late last month estimated Apple to build India as its global manufacturing center for iPhone by 2025. According to the Wall Street firm, Apple will shift 5% of total iPhone 14 outputs to India by the end of 2022, and further expand capacity so that India-made iPhones could account for 25% of worldwide production by 2025.

Earlier this week, a Bloomberg report said iPhones exported from India topped US$1 billion in five months starting from April. And volume of iPhones made in the country is expected to reach US$2.5 billion in 12 months through March 2023, almost doubling that of the year ended March 2022.  

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