Apple Pushes for More Made in India iPhones — But China Isn’t Making It Easy

Apple’s plan to increase iPhone production in India is allegedly facing regulatory hurdles in China. A new report highlights that Chinese authorities denied one of Apple’s suppliers permission to move its equipment to India. This machinery, the report said, is essential for the iPhone 17’s trial production.

The Information has reported that the supplier found a workaround for the problem. It set up a proxy company in Southeast Asia to buy those machines. After the machines reached the country, which was not revealed in the report, the proxy company sent them to Foxconn’s plant in India. Foxconn is Apple’s biggest supplier in China.

While this circumvention has worked for the supplier so far, the report said Chinese authorities are delaying shipments, if not categorically blocking them, without stating a reason. Foxconn reportedly saw approval times to ship equipment for iPhone manufacturing from China to India increase from two weeks to about four months. Some of its applications were also rejected without explanation, per the report.

Will it impact iPhone production in India?

Made-in-India iPhones account for roughly 20 per cent of Apple’s global shipments, but it took the company more than seven years to reach that output. Apple has said it is bullish about the Indian market, with “a long-term goal of moving about half of its iPhone production out of China,” according to the report.

However, its suppliers, such as Foxconn, will need the necessary equipment to expand their production lines in India. The iPhone-making machinery is mostly located in China because it is where most of the production has been for years. Building the same machinery would require huge investments and would not make sense for suppliers since Apple wants to halve the iPhone production in China.

Regulatory hurdles in China would impact the pace at which Apple has lately produced iPhones through its India-based suppliers. China has remained the world’s biggest electronics manufacturing nation — a sentiment bolstered partly by Apple’s aggressive production lines in the country. However, recent geopolitical turmoil between Beijing and Washington has forced Apple to diversify its supply chain outside of China, with India and Vietnam being the most appealing markets for manufacturing its devices.

An aggressive push from Foxconn and Tata Electronics, which bought Wistron and picked up a stake in Pegatron — two of Apple’s important suppliers, has allowed Apple to increase the iPhone production capacity in India. Last month, Apple reportedly airlifted five planes full of India-made iPhones to the US as customers began panic-buying after Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs.

Restricting the movement of equipment is likely to give China leverage over Apple’s diversification plan. Moreover, it also puts China in a better position to negotiate tariffs with the US, as reciprocal tariffs threaten trade between the two countries.

Read more: iPhone 16e Is a Hit — So Apple May Launch iPhone 17e in 2025