It took seven years for Tim Prepare dinner to go to India once more after touring to the fast-growing nation in 2016. In April, the Apple CEO visited New Delhi and Mumbai to open two flagship shops, one in every metropolis.
“Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner really traveled to India earlier this yr to be in attendance for the opening of these two shops out in India, largely due to the huge alternative that he sees out in India,” stated Angelo Zino, a senior analyst at CFRA Analysis. “In lots of respects, we’re believers that India goes to characterize an analogous alternative to China, they usually additionally form of characterize very comparable markets in nature.”
Apple has been manufacturing older fashions of iPhones in India since 2017. In 2022, the corporate started making the iPhone 14 in India, which was seen as a giant shift in its manufacturing technique. That yr, about 3.5% of the world’s iPhones have been made in India. Apple finally desires to fabricate 25% of the world’s iPhones there.
“The key issue behind Apple’s resolution to diversify their manufacturing was they noticed the impression of a few of these disruptions in China that needed to do with their Covid zero coverage and a recognition of how weak they have been in the event that they did not have form of a broader provide base,” stated Willy Shih, professor of administration follow at Harvard Enterprise College. “With out that broader provide base, they’d manufacturing shortfalls which impacted their gross sales, which they won’t have suffered as a lot had they’d a number of sources.”
Transferring extra iPhone manufacturing from China to India feels like a good suggestion on paper. In the actual world, it is plagued with critical challenges — discovering expertise, constructing out infrastructure and navigating a patchwork of rules. Apple declined CNBC’s request for remark.
Watch the video above to seek out out why Apple is betting on India and the challenges it faces because it slowly shifts its manufacturing base from China to India.