Introductory production on the standard iPhone 17 will start in India in the second half of 2025, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo says that new product introduction (NPI) for the iPhone 17 will happen in India, marking the first time that Apple begins development of a new iPhone outside of China.
Apple will opt to assemble the standard iPhone 17 in India because it has a "lower difficulty" design that will minimize risk. Apple has been manufacturing older iPhones and other devices in India since for several years now in an effort to move more of its manufacturing out of China. Apple has slowly started giving factories in India more responsibility, and began iPhone 14 production in the country just a few weeks after the device launched in September 2022. iPhone 15 production started even earlier, with factories in the country assembling the base iPhone 15 model prior to launch, but assembly still started in China first.
Apple works with Foxconn, Pegatron, and Tata (new owner of Wistron) to manufacture iPhones in India, with Foxconn handling 75 to 80 percent of the device assembly. Foxconn has invested more than $500 million in India to ramp up its manufacturing capabilities.
As of now, Kuo believes that 12 to 14 percent of global iPhone shipments are made in India, with that proportion to increase to 20 to 25 percent by 2024. In addition to allowing Apple to move manufacturing away from China, increasing production in India provides Apple with an opportunity to strengthen its relationship with the Indian government. India is a key market for Apple due to growing demand for Apple products in the country.
Apple in 2023 opened its first retail stores in Mumbai, but online sales have been available in India since 2020.
