Tata Group, India’s biggest business group, is almost ready to sign a deal to buy a plant in Karnataka that makes parts for Apple Inc.
This could happen as early as August. People who know about the situation say this would be the first time a company in the area would start putting together iPhones.
When the move is finished, Tata will be the first company in India to make the iPhone. The company is expected to increase the number of iPhones it can make at the Wistron plant. It is also said to be testing how to put together the next iPhone 15 models in India.
A takeover of the plant in Karnataka owned by Wistron would end a year of talks. A story says that the takeover could be worth more than $600 million. More than 10,000 people work at the factory, putting together the new iPhone 14 models.
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Wistron has promised to send out iPhones worth $1.8 billion from the plant in FY24 so that it can get money from the government. The business also wants to hire three times as many people at the plant by next year. Tata will keep its promises even though Wistron is leaving the Indian iPhone business.
Wistron began making iPhones in India with the iPhone SE 2 about five years ago. In India, the tech giant is making the iPhone SE, the iPhone 12, the iPhone 13, and the iPhone 14.
In the three months ending June 30, the plant also sent about $500 million worth of iPhones out of India. Wistron and Foxconn Technology Group are the leaders in putting together iPhones right now.
Tata will apparently put together a small part of Apple’s iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus in the country. Most of the iPhone 15 series models will be made by Foxconn, one of Apple’s oldest and biggest contract manufacturers. Pegatron and Luxshare will also make some of the models.
Apple’s new factory market: India
The fire at Foxconn, the biggest company in the world that makes iPhones, showed that Apple needs to be less dependent on China.
After China’s COVID-19 rules stopped the making of the iPhone and other gadgets, the company that made the iPhone moved production to another country. Tensions between Beijing and Washington could have hurt business in a big way. The company spent $1 billion per week on COVID-19.
There were rumours in March 2023 that Apple’s partner, Foxconn Technology Group, planned to spend about $700 million at the Karnataka site to speed up local production. The state’s investment promotion section said the move would create 100,000 jobs over the next 10 years.
In fact, Apple said last year that it was making its flagship iPhone 14 in India. This is because the U.S. tech giant wants to move some production away from China in an effort to diversify production away from America’s economic rival and get more customers in India.
The country is seen as Apple’s best chance for moving production out of China. A report from last year said that a quarter of all iPhones could be made in the country by 2025, and a later one said that this number could go up to half of all iPhones by 2027.
If an Indian company makes the iPhone, it might persuade other global technology brands to think about making their products in India instead of China, so they don’t have to rely so much on China.
The Tata Group, which sells everything from salt to tech services, has been trying to expand into technology manufacturing and online shopping over the past few years. Both of these places are relatively new for the Tata family.
It already makes the iPhone chassis (the metal frame of the device) at its plant in Tamil Nadu. The Tatas also help people who want to make semiconductors, said N Chandrasekaran, the company’s Chairman.
Apple is rumoured to be planning to release two iPhones with a screen size of 6.1 inches and two iPhones with a screen size of 6.7 inches for the iPhone 15. One of the iPhones with a screen size of 6.1 inches will be the normal iPhone 15, and one with a screen size of 6.7 inches will be an iPhone 15 “Plus.”
The 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch iPhones will be “Pro” models with better specs. By the end of the second half of 2023, there might be 84 million of the new iPhone 15 series in production.