iPhone 15 local assembly begins as launch nears

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Production of the iPhone 15, which is likely to be unveiled next month, has started at the factory of Apple’s contract manufacturer Foxconn near Chennai, two people familiar with the development said, the first time an Apple smartphone is being assembled in India before its international launch. Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, is assembling these devices at its Sriperumbudur facility in Tamil Nadu, even as it expands its local manufacturing operations beyond smartphones. “One of the units of Foxconn has started making the latest model.

The assembly of phones will have limited employability potential, and therefore, we would want them to look at value addition and bring in component manufacturing as well as R&D to the state," a government official said on condition of anonymity. Bloomberg reported the news earlier in the day. Queries sent to Apple Inc.

and Foxconn remained unanswered. A Foxconn subsidiary inked a $200 million agreement with the Tamil Nadu government for a component manufacturing facility. The iPhone 15 is expected to be unveiled on 12 September, when Apple holds its annual launch event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California.

“This is the first time that a new-generation iPhone will commence assembly in India prior to its global unveiling, with the iPhone 14 having been manufactured in India shortly after the global cycle. This implies that Apple’s overall local manufacturing mandate is gradually increasing, although there would be little to no market implication of the local manufacturing — be it in terms of prices or sales volumes," said Tarun Pathak, research director, Counterpoint India. “It isn’t exactly surprising — with iPhone 13 and 14 too, Apple’s India