Time.news – Apple asked its suppliers to move the production of the AirPods and Beats earphones to India, as early as next year. To report the news Nikkei Asia, according to which Foxconn, the company that assembles the iPhones, is preparing to produce the Beats, also hoping to produce the AirPods.
Dal 2019 AirPods are mainly produced in Vietnam and were one of the first Apple products to be assembled outside of China: more than 70 million units are shipped each year (second only to the iPhone among Apple products in terms of shipping volumes). Since 2021, most of the Beats production has also moved to Vietnam.
The move is part of Apple’s strategy ease dependence on China, as well as reducing the risk of supply chain disruptions that in the recent past resulted from the country’s strict anti-COVID policy and tensions with the United States. At the end of September, the Cupertino company had declared that it also wanted to assemble the iPhone 14, the most recent flagship product in the country.
The company’s choice to move part of its production to the Indian continent (the second largest smartphone market in the world after China) is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goals to push for local production of devices and chips. Apple has been operating in India since 2017, when, responding to the invitation of the Delhi government to support the development of local manufacturing, it created partnerships first with Wistron and then with Foxconn.
According to data from Counterpoint Research, India has increased its market share in the production of mobile phones (smartphones and accessories) from 9% in 2016 to 16% in 2021. China’s share has dropped from 74% in 2016. , before the trade war and the pandemic, at around 67% in 2021.