(Reuters) -Apple Inc’s Taiwanese contract manufacturer Pegatron Corp has begun assembling the new iPhone 14 in India, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The report comes as relentless controls and spot lockdowns across China, where majority of Apple’s iPhones are manufactured, have hampered economic growth and taken a heavy psychological and financial toll on residents and companies.
Meanwhile, Foxxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, began production of iPhone 14 in India in September, making Pegatron the second producer of the model in India, Bloomberg report added.
All of Apple’s biggest Taiwanese suppliers, Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron Corp , have ramped up iPhone assembly in India, boosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s financial incentives program, Bloomberg said.
India and other countries such as Mexico and Vietnam are increasingly turning important to contract manufacturers supplying to American brands amid COVID-related lockdowns in China and simmering tensions between Washington and Beijing.
China on Wednesday ordered an industrial park in the city of Zhengzhou that houses an iPhone factory belonging to Foxconn to enter a seven-day lockdown.
Earlier this week, market research firm TrendForce said it has cut its iPhone shipments forecast for the fourth quarter by 2-3 million units, from 80 million previously, due to the troubles at the Zhengzhou plant, adding that its investigation of the situation found that the factory’s capacity utilization rates were now around 70%.
Pegatron declined to comment, whereas a spokesperson for Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters query.
(Reporting by Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
