As part of the efforts to diversify its supply chain, Apple moved a smaller volume of iPhone 14 production to India. For the first time, the tech giant narrowed the production gap of the latest iPhone 14 series between China and India; Apple began iPhone 14 production at Foxconn’s plants in India only 2 months after its launch out of China.
Now, Bloomberg reports that the tech company has ordered another supplier Pegatron to begin iPhone 14 production in India.
Recently, it was reported that the local Chinese government had put Foxconn’s largest iPhone assembling unit in Zhengzhou under a week-long lockdown after the COVID-19 breakout at the facility and the alleged escape of employees from the plant to avoid working under a closed-loop production system.
Apple’s latest decision to increase production in India might be driven by China’s strict zero-COVID-19 policy.
Pegatron to manufacture standard iPhone 14 models for Apple in India
In June this year, Pegatron announced that it was expanding its business outside China because of COVID-19 lockdowns and labor shortages. It appears that the manufacturer’s decision is finally paying off. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg:
Apple Inc.’s Taiwanese contract manufacturer Pegatron Corp. has begun assembling the company’s latest iPhone 14 model in India. That move makes Pegatron the second Apple supplier to produce the iPhone 14 in the country.
Although Pegatron is one of Apple’s long-term partners, the tech company suspended work with the Taiwanese manufacturer over various labor violations in 2021. After cleaning up its act, the manufacturer was awarded iPhone 13 mini order in 2021.
However, Foxconn is still the tech giant’s exclusive assembler iPhone Pro lineup and Pegatron is likely to produce standard iPhone 14 models at its factory in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state.
Apple’s chief production partner still has exclusivity on the iPhone Pro models, which it assembles in Zhengzhou.
The Pegatron factory in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state, which employed more than 7,000 as of the end of September, also began making iPhone 12 handsets earlier this year. Pegatron generally gets orders for Apple’s entry-level models.
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