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Apple will assemble some of its iPhone 16 Pro models in India, Moneycontrol reports.
The goal is to reduce Apple's dependency on China. Apple started manufacturing its smartphones in India with the iPhone SE in 2017 and has since assembled base variants of the iPhone 13, iPhone 14, and iPhone 15 series there. But this would be the first time it assembled an iPhone "Pro" model in India, Moneycontrol notes.
The manufacturing strategy allowed Apple to sell the iPhone 15 in India on the same day as the global launch—a rarity. This year, it plans to do the same with iPhone 16 Pro models. Production is expected to begin soon at Foxconn’s Sriperumbudur facility in Tamil Nadu.
According to MacRumors, this move is also intended to align with Apple's broader strategy of eventually shifting 25% of its total iPhone production to India, currently at 14%. China will continue to produce most of the iPhone 16 lineup for now, 9to5Mac notes. But Apple will need all the help it can get if it wants to meet its goal of shipping 90 million iPhone 16 devices globally.