‘Make in India’ AirPods are coming quickly. Photograph: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
After ramping up iPhone manufacturing in India lately, Apple will start producing AirPods subsequent yr.
Apple’s provider, Foxconn, will begin assembling the wi-fi earbuds at a brand new manufacturing unit close to Hyderabad, Telangana, in Q1 2025. Trial manufacturing is already underway on the facility.
AirPods manufacturing to increase to India
Over the previous couple of years, Apple’s manufacturing presence has quickly grown in India. Put up-COVID, the corporate has diversified its provide chain away from China, making India a secondary manufacturing base for iPhones.
Now, Bloomberg studies that Apple will begin assembling AirPods in India from subsequent yr. This can make them the second main Apple product to be assembled within the nation after the iPhone.
Regardless of its market share shrinking lately, Apple stays the chief within the wi-fi earbuds class. It apparently shipped 16.8 million AirPods in Q2 2024, as per Canalys, far forward of its rivals like Samsung and Sony.
Moreover China, Apple manufactured AirPods in Vietnam. It appears the corporate is gearing as much as diversify the earbuds manufacturing additional by making them in India.
Apple retains rising in India
Apple might probably double its iPhone manufacturing in India within the subsequent two years. It’s already making extra iPhones within the nation than you’d suppose. Appel additionally began making the iPhone 16 Professional in India inside weeks of its world launch, a primary for the corporate. Beforehand, the corporate solely assembled non-Professional iPhones within the nation for export to close by markets and to fulfill native demand.
The expanded manufacturing efforts come as native iPhone gross sales hold hovering to a brand new excessive each quarter. Apple reportedly shipped 9 million iPhones in India within the first 9 months of the yr, representing a 35% YoY progress. iPhones additionally outsold Samsung units in Q3 2024 regardless of the latter providing extra inexpensive units.
